Two men are on the run after fleeing the scene in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, while two police officers have minor injuries
An Indigenous Queensland man has died during a “violent struggle” with police that also left two officers with minor injuries.
Two other men were on the run after fleeing the scene of the incident in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after midday on Thursday.
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Continue reading...Banking regulator tightens rules on home loans; ‘dozens’ of construction protesters have Covid, John Setka says; Brittany Higgins appointed to Global Institute for Women’s Leadership; NSW to reach reopening vaccine rate today or tomorrow – follow all today’s news
The numbers are out in Victoria and there has been a bit of a drop, with 1,420 new cases recorded.
Sadly, the state has recorded 11 deaths overnight.
There’s a number of areas within the roadmap can be looked at.
There’s a number of issues that I want to raise with our health officials this morning. Whatever we do, we want to make sure it’s done in a way that keeps people safe.
That’s an incredibly positive thing. There’s been a slowdown, but there’s naturally going to be a slowdown if the vaccination rate gets to a high point.
Continue reading...Melbourne overtaking Buenos Aires as city that has spent most days under stay-at-home orders. Follow all the updates
When it comes to Melbourne now, by some counts, becoming the most locked-down city in the world, premier Daniel Andrews says he is proud of the sacrifices Melburnians have made over the pandemic.
Yesterday he called on Melburnians to make a final push before lockdown ends in coming weeks, reports Callum Godde from AAP.
We are going to get past this. We are going to end this lockdown and open up, and all that we will enjoy then will be a result of all that we have given.
If we let it rip last year, we would have had severe mortality and morbidity. It’s just that we haven’t had the same luck as other place.
Continue reading...Dr Kerry Chant warns next week is ‘critical’ for state as Victoria and ACT see slight declines in numbers
Victoria’s Covid infections have dropped slightly with Melbourne’s 246-day lockdown to become the world’s longest on Tuesday.
And while New South Wales recorded a substantial drop in local Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the state continued to see a rise in Covid-related hospitalisations and deaths.
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Continue reading...Miner says group is ‘trespassing’ but police have acknowledged their cultural rights under human rights act
Queensland police have told a group of First Nations people occupying the site of Adani’s Carmichael coalmine for the past five weeks that they have no intention of removing them from the area “at this time”.
The group of Wangan and Jagalingou traditional owners opposed to the coalmine project began an ongoing cultural ceremony within the boundary of Adani’s mining lease in late August.
Continue reading...Annastacia Palaszczuk says she would have no qualms calling off Sunday's NRL grand final after the state recorded two new locally acquired cases of Covid-19. Brisbane is set to host the rugby league decider between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Penrith Panthers on Sunday with an already reduced 75% capacity due to Queensland's latest outbreak. Both the premier and chief health officer Jeannette Young say they will not hesitate to call off the game if the outbreak worsens. Townsville in the state's north has been mooted as a possible replacement venue
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.
The world’s oldest rainforest will join landmarks like Uluru and Kakadu, where First Nations people are custodians of world heritage sites
Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will take formal ownership of the world heritage-listed Daintree tropical rainforest in northern Australia, after the Indigenous traditional owners reached a historic deal with the Queensland government.
The Daintree national park is part of 160,108 hectares (395,467 acres) of land that will be handed back to the traditional owners at a ceremony on Wednesday at Bloomfield, north of Wujal Wujal.
Continue reading...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...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...Health minister Yvette D’Ath breaks down in parliament as she speaks about her mother’s suffering
Opponents of Queensland’s proposed voluntary assisted dying laws have tabled 55 separate amendments to the bill ensuring there will be a protracted debate in the state parliament this week.
Many MPs shared emotional personal stories during Tuesday’s debate with packets of tissues passed around the Legislative Assembly.
Continue reading...Man in his 20s dies in NSW as state records 1,262 new cases; ACT records 15 new Covid cases. This blog is now closed
That’s where I will leave you for today. Here’s a wrap of what we learned:
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has taken to twitter to slam the Berejiklian government for calling an end to the 11am daily press conferences.
“When I feel like I need to be accountable.”
❌ That’s not good enough.
Government accountability isn’t optional.
Reinstate the daily press conferences and bring back the parliament now.#nswpol #auspol
NSW freedoms come into effect the Monday after 70% over-16 vaccination is achieved; state confirms five more deaths; new case in Qld quarantine; 107 of Victoria’s new cases linked to known outbreaks – follow the latest updates live
An update on another story I did this week regarding those Craig Kelly text messages everyone has been getting.
We know that under the current legislative situation, there’s nothing preventing political parties like the United Australia Party from sending out those text messages, and people cannot unsubscribe from them.
The carriage of messages is generally a commercial matter for telecommunications providers, except in circumstances where there may be offences against the laws of the commonwealth or states or territories.
Both the Telecommunications Act 1997 and Spam Act 2003 contain provisions about implied freedom of political communications. These provisions set out that the acts or parts of them do not apply to the extent they would infringe on any constitutional doctrine of implied freedom of political communication.
There’s a press conference with the PM at 1.40pm AEST.
Continue reading...Gladys Berejiklian under pressure over modelling showing state’s health system to be ‘overwhelmed’ by Covid cases; rapid antigen tests approved for use at home. Follow the latest updates live
The New South Wales government has set a target of zero extinctions of native wildlife in the state’s national parks estate, the first time an Australian government has set the goal.
The environment minister, Matt Kean, said the target, which will apply to all parklands in NSW, was a response to the continued decline of threatened plants and animals and Australia’s status as the country with the highest rate of mammal extinctions.
Related: Zero extinction target for NSW national parks welcomed by environment groups
And the Victorian Liberal’s deputy position is filled, with member for Caufield, David Southwick, scoring the gig.
New VICLib team: Guy and deputy David Southwick. #springst
Continue reading...Essential workers over the age of 16 who live in local government areas of concern won’t be allowed to leave their LGA from Monday unless they have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. Follow latest updates
Independent federal senator, Rex Patrick, appears to have tweeted an ultimatum to the government: be transparent about the profitable corporations that wrongly pocketed jobkeeper, or he will withdraw support for the government’s changes to the EPBC Act.
The government needs Patrick’s vote in the Senate to pass the legislation.
I’m done with ‘em. @ScottMorrisonMP gifting hard earned taxpayer money to his business mates & donors makes him the most shameless & unethical PM ever. @JoshFrydenberg’s JK prudential failure makes him the most incompetent Treasurer ever. EPBC discussions over @sussanley! #auspol pic.twitter.com/rMctoje7Xy
Finally, Speers asked Robert why the government won’t, at least, publish a list for taxpayers of “where the money went and let the firms decide whether to pay it back”?
But Robert argued that that would interfere with the privacy of these companies.
The transparency if you like, or what pertained in the Senate which was a demand for all the records of so many Australian companies, and vast majority of them being small to medium enterprises under tax law, that would substantially invade the privacy and would substantially make a huge step in the wrong direction as to how we manage the privacy of all of those individuals and all of those companies, David. It would be a massive retrograde step in how we do things.
Moderna vaccine gets green light for over-12s; more than 1,000 families asked to isolate after Queensland girl tests positive. This blog is now closed
Before we wrap up the live blog, let’s recap the main events of today.
It’s been another grim day. The NSW and ACT reported record case numbers. Victoria has warned of a NSW-style growth in its numbers.
Civil liberties groups have criticised a lack of safeguards and primary legislation accompanying an app being trialled in South Australia that uses facial recognition and geolocation data to enforce home quarantine.
SA is trialling the app, which the government developed, on a small number of volunteers who have returned from interstate. It requires them to answer a message within 15 minutes, using facial recognition and geolocation to verify their identity and location. If they fail to do so, the app alerts police.
It’s the usual thing, it’s done in a very half-baked way, and without all the necessary provisions about what you actually do with the information you’re collecting.
Continue reading...NSW relaxes one small rule in LGAs of concern, as national cabinet prepares to meet. Follow today’s updates
The ACT has recorded 18 new cases today, with 13 linked to previous cases and 5 under investigation.
Only 3 of the cases were in quarantine for their full infectious period.
So contact tracing feels like the theme of todays NSW press conference, with the premier saying the system will move to a “self-monitoring” system.
The premier was asked about the long delays that some had seen in getting responses from health authorities, and Berejiklian said NSW Health had moved to a text message system to ease some of the strain:
Without giving away anybody’s private circumstances, some people who are very sick aren’t getting a test until right at the last minute,” the Premier said, adding “the job of our contact tracers is made easier if people get tested as soon as they think they may have been exposed.
But I want to make sure every citizen knows we will account for every type of circumstance. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded, quite the opposite. Our plans are based on inclusiveness to make sure everyone feel safe and part of the system. Of course we will also make adjustments for people who may not have access to technology in the way that others do.
Obviously there will be a transition.
We have already started transitioning as Doctor Chant and Dr Gale have spoken about, we are advising people by text message to make sure they get the message as soon as possible if they test positive so we are using technology in an efficient way to make sure people get the message as quickly as possible.
Continue reading...Singapore agrees to vaccine ‘dose swap’ with Australia; NSW confirms 1,164 cases and three deaths; lockdown extended to 17 September in ACT; Victoria records 76 new cases; AMA says vaccinations for healthcare staff must be mandatory. Follow the latest updates live
Andrew Leigh to Josh Frydenberg:
Gerry Harvey has now repaid $6 million in JobKeeper out of the $13 billion that went to companies with rising revenue. Gerry Harvey think it is money should be paid back. Why doesn’t the Treasurer?
Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison:
My question as to the prime minister. Most economists expect the economic growth to slow in the June quarter and it is now going backwards in the September quarter. Why does the prime minister not take responsibility for the fact that Australia’s economic recovery was always hostage to his failures on vaccines and quarantine?
Australia is one of the few countries in the world that after the Covid-19 recession of last year saw our economy grow back to a level higher than it was before the pandemic started, and that is before Delta hit, and saw 1 million people, a million people get back into work.
That was the product of economic policies that not only provided significant, in fact unprecedented economic support, both to individuals who had lost hours and had been stood down, through jobkeeper but also through ... the many other measures that supported businesses to see their way through at a time. Particularly last year at the outset of Covid when the uncertainty was at such a level that it was like looking into an economic abyss. And so the certainty that was provided by the government that stepped in with the single largest economic intervention in Australia’s history. Gave businesses, gave families, gave individual employees the confidence to be able to get up the next day and see it through, and do it again, day after day, month after month.
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