Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared the government has “overcome” the challenges of the national vaccine program, despite the states crying out for more mRNA vaccine supplies to curb the Delta outbreak tearing through NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
Greg Hunt has promised that all children aged 12 to 15 will be able to be vaccinated by the end of 2021, after technical advice confirmed they are eligible for Pfizer.
But the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has warned that, given supply constraints, Pfizer doses should be prioritised for young adults. And the government should also consider offering older Australians choice of vaccine before vaccinating teenagers.
With images of people jetting off to see loved ones overseas, the ad offers a glimpse of what many have been missing
Qantas has released a new ad that promotes getting a Covid-19 vaccine, and it tugs at the heartstrings of Australians longing to travel again.
The ad appeals to those who have been separated from loved ones overseas, with scenes of what the future might offer when vaccination rates are high enough.
Delta may be gripping the city and dominating headlines but global warming is still the number one issue for many
Voters in three Liberal-held federal seats in metropolitan Sydney remain worried about climate change despite the pressing frustrations and uncertainties associated with the Delta outbreak, according to new electorate-level polling commissioned by an activist group.
New seat polls commissioned by Climate 200, an organisation supporting independent political candidates committed to achieving a science-based response to climate change, suggest global heating is the number one issue of concern for voters in the electorates of Wentworth and North Sydney.
ACT chief minister Andrew Barr calls on colleagues to stop presenting 70% or 80% vaccination targets as ‘freedom day’ ahead of meeting. Follow latest updates
I also want to stress that from Monday midnight, unless you’re exercising masks should be worn outdoors everywhere across New South Wales.
Our concern is that when people are walking past a group of people or accidentally bumping into people that, that can cause that fleeting contact can cause transmission, and even when you’re exercising, you need to have the mask unless you’re doing some strenuous exercise.
Berejiklian:
So from Monday at midnight, the greater Sydney lockdown will extend until the end of September... but I also want to state that the Central Coast and Shell Harbour will be defined as regional.
So Greater Sydney includes all those areas that are currently in lockdown in Greater Sydney but for the Central Coast and Shellharbour which will be defined as rural and regional as we announced yesterday.
A second South Australian MP has been referred to an official investigator over allegations of bullying, AAP reports.
Treasurer Rob Lucas says he has referred allegations against Labor MP Tony Piccolo to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said just a moment ago that expanding access to the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds was something being worked through.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pushing for a plan.
Parents worried about the effect that lockdowns are having on their kids are now more concerned than ever that their children might catch Covid.
And right now, Mr Morrison doesn’t have a plan for our kids to access a vaccine when it’s safe to do so.
We are now just waiting for NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian to step up for the daily Covid-19 press conference where we learn the state’s daily numbers.
We are expecting that in about 10 minutes, so stay tuned.
Sydney radio station 2GB is reporting a staff member from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Syndey has tested positive to Covid-19 and may have been infectious while working.
A staff member at RPA Hospital in Sydney has tested positive to COVID-19. The worker was fully vaccinated but potentially infectious while working on August 10, 11, 12 + 13 in the nuclear medicine department. There has been no transmission to other staff or patients to date.
Leaders from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have reacted to the news that the Taliban has begun taking control of Kabul after a 20-year mission to Afghanistan led by western countries. UK prime minister Boris Johnsons said, ‘we don't want anybody bilaterally recognising the Taliban’, while New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern said conversations over how the new regime is treated will be for some time in the future. US secretary of state Antony Blinken blamed ‘the inability of Afghan security forces to defend their country’ for the quick takeover while Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said he was ‘heartbroken’ at the news. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said that fighting for freedom is ‘always worth it whatever the outcome.’
One million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine are on the way to Australia, after the Polish government answered the Morrison government’s international pleas for help and as New South Wales authorities struggle to contain the state’s Covid outbreak.
A total of 530,000 of the new doses, due to arrive in Australia late on Sunday, have been quarantined for use in NSW for 20-to-39-year-olds living in the 12 hotspot Sydney local government areas.
Barr has acknowledged the long waiting times at testing sites throughout the state, and has asked people who have been contacted by ACT Health as close or casual contacts to come forward as priority for testing:
We will be expanding testing capacity, hours of operations and the number of people at each existing testing centre can manage in a day but yesterday was our all-time record number of tests. We expect today will be even busier and we have stood additional testing capacity.
So please, if you do not have symptoms and you are not an identified close contact, you do not need to be tested today. Please, stay-at-home. There will be an opportunity to be tested in the days ahead but the priority right now is to test those people who ACT health have contacted.
The ACT has recorded two new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to six. It has identified 1,862 close contacts and that number will grow.
There are more casual contacts. There were more than 2,000 tests yesterday and results have been received on about 1,330 of them.
Chief Executive of Western NSW Local Health District, Scott McLachlan, tells @PatsKarvelas that the majority of COVID cases in regional NSW outbreaks at the moment - including Dubbo and Walgett - are Aboriginal people.
Staying with the Walgett outbreak, my colleague Nino Bucci has been digging into this story.
After 20 years on the ground, Australian and allied forces have rapidly exited Afghanistan – ending Australia’s longest war. The Taliban has launched a nationwide offensive and violently acquired territory from the Afghan government, leaving local workers who once assisted the Australian defence force fearing for their lives. In this extract from Guardian Australia's Full Story podcast, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Afghan interpreter Naser Ahmadi about how aiding Australian forces put him and his family in danger, and reporter Ben Doherty explores the situation in Afghanistan and why some Afghan workers have been left behind
Hazzard is the asked if the health system is being overwhelmed:
The health system is under stress as you would expect because there are a number of cases that are coming into our hospitals and our patients are being cared for, but they want to thank our nurses, our doctors, our cleaners, administrative staff who are there every day putting themselves at the front line to keep us all safe and I would just say again to people who might want to walk into our hospitals, if you do have COVID symptoms, cough, cold, temperature, anything that you think might be COVID, bring ahead and let them know that you are coming in so that they can keep themselves safe.
We have to keep our health staff safe so you can be safe. But certainly, anybody who thinks the health system in any country where we have a Delta variant is not under stress is getting themselves. Of course it is under stress but our health professionals are doing a great job.
As per usual, health minister Brad Hazzard has given his colourful daily take, today urging HSC students to “go for gold” in getting the Pfizer vaccine, and then listed off all the “stars” who have performed at the Qudos Arena, where the pop-up hub will be set up:
We’ve seen our Olympic stars go for gold, we’ve seen the most amazing stars in the Qudos Bank Arena, I think there has been Lana Del Rey, Keith Urban, Pink, Madonna, you have a chance to go to that stadium next week and get some gold by getting your first vaccination, your first Pfizer vaccination.
This is your big chance to really go for gold. You are getting an opportunity that so many others haven’t yet managed to achieve and is there to light up your future by having your safety and security looked after.
About 2,500 students and staff at a school in Melbourne’s west will need to self-isolate and get tested after a teacher caught Covid-19.
Jeroen Weimar, Victoria’s Covid-19 commander, told ABC Melbourne the Al Taqwa College teacher got tested yesterday and her positive result came back today.
Let’s take a look at the market at the close of play, via AAP.
The ASX200 has closed higher than 7500 points for the first time in its history as traders continue to look beyond coronavirus lockdowns.
National cabinet’s pandemic exit strategy only considered modelling for the “transition” phase over the next six months, with the Doherty Institute yet to consider how relaxed restrictions will affect transmission in the community.
The federal government on Tuesday released the modelling that underpinned the updated four-phase roadmap announced on Friday, with the research highlighting the need for a “strategic shift” to targeting young adults who were most likely to transmit the virus.
Anthony Albanese wants the Morrison government to provide a one-off $300 payment to every person who has been fully vaccinated by 1 December. Follow latest updates
David Gillespie has been seen in the parliament – so Christian Porter has been chosen to be the acting leader of the house, ahead of Gillespie who is the deputy leader of the house.
Barnaby Joyce will be holding a press conference in 15 minutes to talk extended support for the aviation industry.