Category Archives: New South Wales

Coronavirus Australia update: Melbourne’s hotspot suburbs in lockdown as Victoria struggles to contain outbreak – live news

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Residents of 10 postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west have been ordered to stay home from midnight tonight. Follow live

Scott Morrison was asked about Annastacia Palaszczuk’s comments about singling out Queensland on the Nine network this morning:

Well, I haven’t. There’s an election in Queensland, so I’m not surprised that the political rhetoric is amping up. Look, we’re keeping all of the country together to focus on this. I made similar comments about the changes in borders in South Australia yesterday. So, look, I think you can file that under a Queensland election.

Anthony Albanese was asked about Annastacia Palaszczuk’s comments yesterday, after she hit back on the border criticism (which included Scott Morrison) and said:

Well, look, I don’t believe that it’s appropriate, and I haven’t sought to politicise a response to the medical issues with regard to borders.

I’m not surprised that Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has shown tremendous leadership in Queensland, is frustrated at the comments of the Prime Minister given he has said time and time again it’s up to the states what happens.

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Koalas will be driven to extinction before 2050 in NSW, major inquiry finds

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State parliamentary investigation finds biggest threat to the species’ survival is habitat loss – but logging and clearing has continued

Koalas will become extinct before 2050 in NSW unless there is urgent government intervention to prevent habitat loss, a year-long inquiry has found.

The NSW parliamentary inquiry also finds that a government estimate that there are 36,000 koalas in the state is outdated and unreliable.

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Australia Covid-19 active cases and hotspots map: coronavirus stats, numbers and state by state data update

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Guardian Australia brings together all the latest on active and daily new Covid-19 cases, as well as maps, statistics, live data and state by state graphs from NSW, Vic, Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania, ACT and NT to get a broad picture of the Australian outbreak and track the impact of government response

Due to the difference in reporting times between states, territories and the federal government, it can be difficult to get a current picture of how many confirmed cases of coronavirus there are in Australia.

Here, we’ve brought together all the figures in one place, along with comparisons with other countries.

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Coronavirus Australia update: NT blocks people from Covid hotspots and Virgin Australia bidder Cyrus Capital pulls out – live news

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State’s chief minister says people from areas with spikes in cases will be quarantined at their own cost; Bain Capital remains only bidder for embattled airline. Follow live

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath spoke to media earlier, urging residents to comply with quarantine orders.

Although we are so fortunate in Queensland to have so few active cases, the fact is, as of today, we have almost 3,000 people in people on quarantine orders. About 880 of that people are in hotels but over 2,000 are quarantining in their homes.

It is absolutely critical that those people remain at home for the 14 days that they are quarantining, that they are not allowing people into their homes and they are not leaving their homes for any reason other than to be tested for Covid.

In response to a twelve-year-old student at Camden High School in NSW testing positive to Covid-19, the state’s health department has set up an additional Covid pop-up testing clinic at Camden Hospital.

The clinic will have walk-in testing with no bookings required and the clinic will be open over the next three days between 10am and 4pm.

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Sydney’s water supply at risk because of department failure on conservation, audit finds

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NSW audit office blasts water conservation efforts and finds Sydney Water was two years too late in responding to recent drought

The New South Wales government has failed to investigate or implement water conservation measures for greater Sydney, leaving the city’s water supply vulnerable to the effects of population growth, drought and climate change, the state’s auditor has found.

The report by the NSW audit office also found Sydney Water was two years too late in increasing funding for water conservation in response to the recent drought.

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Australia coronavirus news: Victorians warned to avoid Melbourne hotspots amid fears of second wave – live updates

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Authorities ‘strongly discourage’ travel to and from six council areas that are home to most of the country’s new coronavirus cases. Follow live

Victoria has officially announced its new ministry.

Queensland has reported zero coronavirus cases overnight.

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Victoria to extend state of emergency for four more weeks after spike in Covid-19 cases

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Queensland declares southern state a ‘hotspot’ while South Australia reconsiders decision to reopen its border

The Victorian government has announced it will extend its state of emergency for at least four more weeks and ramp up its police enforcement of lockdown rules after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The surge has also prompted neighbouring South Australia to reconsider its decision to reopen its border, while Queensland has declared all of greater Melbourne a Covid-19 hotspot.

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Australia’s Covid-19 restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained: how far can I travel, and can I have people over?

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How far can you drive and what are the travel restrictions in NSW, Queensland and Victoria? How many people can you have over at your house in Tasmania, ACT, SA, WA or NT? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide

Australians have been slowly emerging from Covid-19 lockdowns since the federal government announced a three-stage plan in May to ease restrictions across the country.

It is up to each state and territory to decide when and how far they will relax restrictions.

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Australia coronavirus update: major cyber attack under way as Victoria records 12 new Covid-19 cases – live news

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A sophisticated state-based actor is targeting all levels of government and companies in a range of sectors, PM reveals. Follow live

Also, the Five Eyes finance ministers met. Given what their operatives do, a meeting seems superfluous, but ok.

Today Australia hosted a call with the Finance Ministers of the “Five Eyes” nations – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.

It was the first of what will be regular calls among the countries to discuss the economic issues associated with COVID-19.

I guess when you don’t have the Global Times, you have to be a little more overt in your silent diplomacy.

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Coronavirus Australia update: Northern Territory to reopen borders in July as Victoria records 18 new Covid-19 cases – question time live

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Michael Gunner declared the NT Covid-free and will prepare to allow domestic travel; person who attended Melbourne Black Lives Matter protest among new Vic cases. Follow live

That leads to this exchange:

Tony Smith: The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Prime Minister needs to withdraw that imputation.

Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under this Prime Minister, Australia has entered its first recession in three decades. Australia now has an effective unemployment rate of 11.3%. How many unemployed Australians don’t have a job because the Prime Minister deliberately excluded them from JobKeeper?

No-one in this country is unemployed because of the Government’s responses.

People are unemployed in this country, people have been reduced to zero hours which is the same thing, people have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic!

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Ruby Princess would have been assessed as medium Covid-19 risk, health official tells inquiry

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Ship was considered low risk as updated status preventing passengers from disembarking was not reflected on assessment form

A New South Wales public health official thinks he would have assessed the Ruby Princess as being a medium Covid-19 risk ahead of the ill-fated cruise ship’s arrival in Sydney, had he considered a guideline change during his assessment.

The ship was instead given a low-risk rating, with passengers allowed to disembark and disperse before testing revealed there had been Covid-19 cases on board.

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Coronavirus Australia update: PM apologises for ‘no slavery’ comments as Queensland sticks with 10 July border open date – politics live

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Qld deputy premier and health minister says situation will be reviewed at the end of June ‘as we’ve said consistently’. Follow live

Speaking of awkward, Angus Taylor just took a dixer.

So that is a bit awkward, then.

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NSW court blocks refugee rally after police accuse protesters of ‘Russian roulette’

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The rally, which was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, has been declared a prohibited public gathering

Refugee activists have vowed to push ahead with a planned protest this weekend despite the supreme court prohibiting the event amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Justice Michael Walton on Thursday night granted a NSW police application for the rally to be declared a prohibited public gathering.

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Coronavirus Australia update: NSW reports zero community transmission as Queensland border challenge hits snag – politics live

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Three new cases of Covid-19 reported were all from overseas travellers and are in quarantine; Queensland high court calls requests from lawyers to access border closure documents ‘a fishing expedition’. Follow live updates

Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:

Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament - 339 recommendations.

That Commission had been set up by the government. And at that time, there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national Royal Commission never got over 400 deaths since that Royal Commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.

Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:

Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.

I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: NSW, Victoria, Qld and WA provide update on Covid-19 cases – latest news

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Mathias Cormann to appear before Senate committee seeking answers on the government’s botched wage subsidy projections. Follow the latest live

Mutual obligations for welfare recipients return today.

There are now about 1.6m people receiving the unemployment benefit jobseeker.

Mutual obligations return today & will be gradually phased in.

We are in Phase 1 meaning there are no financial penalties for not meeting activity requirements.

We don't have a timeline of each "phase" but I will keep following up with the Minister for more clarity.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian was giving a press conference just now. She was pressed on comments from her police minister, David Elliott, who said yesterday that police would not approve future permit protests that did not comply for the health guidelines.

Does she agree with Elliott?

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Surfer dies after shark attack in northern New South Wales

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A 50-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing at Casuarina Beach near Kingscliff in the NSW northern rivers region

A 50-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing near Kingscliff in northern NSW.

A Surf Life Saving NSW spokesman told Guardian Australia the man died while surfing at Salt Beach at about 10.40am on Sunday morning.

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Coronavirus Australia: judge refuses authorisation for Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney tomorrow – as it happened

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Planned protests at a time of social distancing draw criticism, including from Scott Morrison, as Melbourne school student tests positive. This blog is now closed

Thanks for staying with us. We’re going to leave for the today.

Before that, here are today’s main developments.

Speaking outside court, assistant commissioner Michael Willing has warned there will be a “significant” police presence at Saturday’s rally.

“Police will be out in numbers to enforce that decision,” Willing said.

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NSW education minister apologises to victims of alleged paedophile teacher Cletus O’Connor

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Sarah Mitchell tells victims of teacher who allegedly preyed on Indigenous boys, she is ‘deeply sorry’ abuse occurred

The New South Wales education minister has apologised to victims of an alleged serial paedophile teacher who preyed on Indigenous boys for decades in the state’s west, saying she was “deeply sorry that those abuses occurred”.

A Guardian investigation last week revealed that since April 2018 the NSW government had quietly settled cases with more than a dozen men who were victims of Cletus O’Connor, a teacher, principal and school inspector who worked for the state education department for more than three decades.

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Coronavirus live update: Josh Frydenberg says Australia’s economy in recession as GDP falls 0.3% in March quarter – latest news

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ABS reports growth slowed to 1.4% through the year as industrial relations roundtables prepare an agenda to regrow the jobs lost during Covid-19. Follow live

Linda Burney and Mark Dreyfus has put out a statement, calling for clear targets to address the over-representation of First Nations people in Australian’s prison systems, and child removal.

Here is part of it:

I doubt we’ll be seeing ‘back solidly in the red’ mugs for sale anytime soon though.

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Water-bombing pilots ‘consistently tasked too late’ when fighting bushfires, royal commission hears

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Aircraft chief describes frustration at losing vital time while inquiry also told firefighter radios in different areas ‘largely incompatible’

Pilots flying water-bombing aircraft are “consistently tasked too late for fires” and sit idle on the tarmac until conditions worsen, the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements has been told.

The inquiry also heard that the radio networks used by firefighting agencies in each jurisdiction are “largely incompatible” with each other and the lack of national coordination meant that resources were not always used effectively.

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