Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Warning comes as all passengers on board a regional flight told to isolate, and alerts issued across Sydney for a gym, cafes, shopping centre, food court and Santa photos
Sydney shoppers have been urged not to enter the central business district for the traditional Boxing Day sales after the state recorded seven new locally acquired coronavirus cases and the northern beaches cluster grew to 108.
The Australian Retailers Association labelled the NSW premier’s plea for consumers to stay at home on “the biggest day on the retail calendar” as “incredibly disappointing”.
Gladys Berejiklian discourages Sydneysiders from Boxing Day shopping; experts fear Christmas could turn into a superspreading event as ‘Avalon cluster’ rises to 108 and spreads. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
One of the Australian government-facilitated repatriation flights to bring home Australians from India has been cancelled, as about 39,000 Australians remain stranded overseas for Christmas.
The flight from New Delhi to Brisbane was scheduled to depart on Sunday 27 December, operated by Qantas.
Gladys Berejiklian urges people to ‘limit your mobility’ as new rules kick in for Christmas Eve in Sydney; medical experts says New Year’s Eve fireworks should be cancelled. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Today’s seven cases linked to the Avalon cluster brings the total number of cases there to 104.
Chant says all people onboard a Qantas flight from Darwin to Sydney on 17 December have been considered close contacts and have been asked to self-isolate.
A Qantas crew member contracted Covid-19 who was onboard the flight subsequently tested positive. Chant says they are investigating another potential case but the current data is preliminary.
Sydney to keep 10-visitor rule but from 24-26 December children under 12 not counted; lockdown continues in half of northern beaches, but small Christmas gatherings allowed. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
The Northern Territory has revoked its categorisation of New South Wales region Illawarra as a coronavirus hotspot.
Health minister Natasha Fyles made the announcement this afternoon following an emergency cabinet meeting, saying the decision was made because there were no cases from the northern beaches there.
This is based on the evidence that they’ve had no cases from the northern beaches coronavirus cluster. I know people are anxiously awaiting other local government areas, but the advice from our chief health officer Hugh Heggie ... is that it is safe to remove that hotspot declaration for the Illawarra Shire local government area. The others will remain in place.
Victoria is reminding people from greater Sydney, the Central Coast or the northern beaches to not attempt to enter Victoria, just in case you might have forgotten.
If you have been in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, or Sydney's Northern Beaches since Dec 11 please do not attempt to enter Victoria. Only people who have exclusively visited or travelled through other parts of NSW can apply for a Border Crossing Permit to enter Vic. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/bad8irfvqn
As soon as it’s safe to open back up to NSW, we will. For now, we’re making sure Victoria can stay safe and stay open.
Police have charged four men with unlawfully lighting fires on K’gari/Fraser Island that started the blazes which scorched more than half of the World heritage-listed tourism drawcard.
Queensland Police and and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service carried out a joint investigation and detectives yesterday charged the four men in their 20s who are all from the Warwick area, 130 kilometres southeast of Brisbane.
Berejiklian says she is frustrated with other premiers who are closing borders to the whole of NSW.
“There are parts of New South Wales completely unaffected by this current outbreak and yet everybody in New South Wales is suffering because other state leaders made decisions,” she says.
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has warned residents of greater Sydney to prepare for an increase in restrictions if the outbreak of Covid-19 expands beyond the northern beaches.
Meanwhile travellers coming from NSW to Queensland will require a border pass declaration from 1am on Sunday and Western Australia announced it was reinstating its hard border with NSW.
A severe weather warning has been issued for Wagga and much of the Riverina for flash flooding this afternoon.
Severe thunderstorms have been forecast for the entire region, all the way from Hay in the west, right across to the east coast, and from the Queensland border down to Tumbarumba.
⚡SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING⚡ for HEAVY RAINFALL. Warning current for much of central and eastern NSW and the ACT. 2hr Obs: 92mm @ Lismore. 30min Obs: 26mm @ Glen Alice, 25mm at Mt.Werong & 22mm @ Lake Burley Griffin. ⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/30woSZ6O2x#ifitsfloodedforgetitpic.twitter.com/L8OXMiSlAz
Victoria police commissioner Shane Patton has sought to differentiate between the police approach during the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne in early June and anti-lockdown protests that were broken up during the second wave, with many more fined.
Patton told a Victorian parliament Covid-19 committee on Wednesday that at the time of the BLM protest, the spread of Covid was not as big as it was later on in the second wave, and there weren’t the severe restrictions at the time that were seen later – in June, groups of up to 20 people could assemble.
We eventually made a decision to reluctantly allow that Black Lives Matter to go ahead, because of the emotion that was in the community, because of the emotion that was being displayed across the world.
The 45-year-old man who tested positive was a van driver transporting international flight crew to and from the airport • Follow Wednesday’s Australia liveblog
New South Wales has recorded a new locally acquired case of Covid after a van driver transporting international airline crew to and from Sydney airport contracted the virus.
The state’s health minister, Brad Hazzard, said the case was discovered Wednesday morning.
Fair Work Commission to be given power to approve agreements that don’t guarantee workers are better off overall. Follow all the latest updates
Earlier, the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, set out the union movement’s objection to the “extreme” industrial relations bill. Those are:
On the other side of that debate:
Take the sand out of your ears – and let's hope we can soften your hearts. Because all this legislation does is push people further and further in the ground. Please Senators, vote no to this horrendous legislation. My full speech: https://t.co/MTYbj02hyw
Scott Morrison says Kylie Moore-Gilbert’s release from Iranian prison a ‘miracle’; Labor and Greens accuse Berejiklian over council grants; an Adelaide high school is closed after Covid case – follow updates
I’ll be passing over the blog to my colleague Michael McGowan, who will take you through the next part of the afternoon.
I’ve been Elias Visontay. Have a great afternoon.
The high court has granted special leave to appeal in a landmark case on casual employment.
In the Workpac v Rosatto decision the federal court found employees described as casuals could be owed further entitlements if they performed regular, permanent work.
NSW to ease coronavirus restrictions, including the number allowed to visit a home; Queensland prepares for influx of visitors ahead of December 1 border reopening. Follow updates
Scott Morrison has defended providing Mathias Cormann a government-funded Royal Air Force jet so he can travel around the world as he campaigns to be secretary general of the OECD.
The prime minister said there was an “extremely high” risk Cormann, who recently resigned as finance minister, would catch Covid if he were forced to travel on commercial flights.
That’s funded by the government because we’re taking this bid very seriously and the reason we need him to do that in the Air Force jet is because Covid is running rampant in Europe, and this is a very important position, and the OECD is going to play a really important role in the global economic recovery.
There really wasn’t the practical option to use commercial flights in the time we had available, because of Covid. If Mathias was flying around on commercial planes, he would have got Covid. The risk of that was extremely high.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed Victorians will be able to enter her state without quarantining from 1 December, after Victoria announced no new cases on Tuesday.
It comes a day after the same reopening was granted to residents of Greater Sydney, as both Greater Sydney and Victoria achieved 28 days of no community transmission without an unknown transmission source.
I just heard and that’s wonderful news and can I congratulate Daniel Andrews, their chief health officer and all of Victorians because this is just such fantastic news. So it means on 1 December, Victorians can also come to Queensland and, of course, Queenslanders can go to Victoria as well. So very, very good news.
We’re absolutely prepared for the influx of people for the Queensland holidays. In fact, just yesterday, we saw a 250% increase in some of our tourism operators across Queensland. So that is absolutely wonderful news.”
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.
Budget estimates continue with Australia’s coronavirus response on the agenda. Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry will reconvene for an extraordinary session while in NSW testing rates drop below 7,000. Follow all the latest updates
Keith Pitt, bless him, attempts a dixer on the Queensland resources industry which LNP candidates in central and north Queensland can cut up and put on their facebook page for three people to look at, but the dixer isn’t the right question, so he can’t use his zinger, or get his time back.
Neither can we.
Steve Burt, he is a typical driller, he is big, he’s bearded, he is rough as hessian underwear to be honest
Catherine King to Michael McCormack:
The Australian audit office told Senate estimates last night that it provided AFP on 10 July potential evidence about potential defrauding of the Commonwealth.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Whilst I appreciate this is the subject of many inquiries being made by Senate estimates, as you would expect, this is an inquiry, the Australian Federal Police are looking into it and the ANAO has referred this matter to the AFP, as has the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure.
And, of course, an independent investigation is also going into the matter, being conducted by the Commonwealth Ombudsman Dr Thomas, the former Inspector-general of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Dr Vivienne Thom.
Melburnians can now travel up to 25km and spend more time out of the house; and federal parliament resumes with Senate estimates. This blog is now closed
In the off chance you aren’t completely fed up with Covid-19 data, the federal health department has been publishing a weekly snapshot of how each state is going.
This is an interesting tool for assessing the success of contact tracing in various states, especially as the case load in Victoria continues to drop.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into whether Daryl Maguire improperly used his position as a politician for his own benefit concluded with admissions from the former Wagga Wagga MP on Friday.
To be clear, though, the transcript shows that later in the day Maguire seemed to walk that back a little, saying 2014 was “clearer in my mind”.
Robertson:
From your perspective the relationship was a close personal relationship on those two dates that you there identify. Do you agree?
I see that. But 14 was clearer in my mind – 14/15.
So is it right that at least from your perspective, you were in a close personal relationship with Ms Berejiklian in calendar year 2014, is that right?
I originally said 15 and I lean towards 15 still, or late 14. That was, that’s my recollection, somewhere there.
Former Wagga MP questioned over corruption allegations including that he misused public office to broker property deals in western Sydney that would financially benefit him. Watch and follow the live stream
We’re back and Robertson dives straight into grilling Maguire over an invoice sent to the Chinese delegation on a G8Way International letterhead which included a “fee for introduction”.
Robertson asks if the fee was raised with Maguire, who says he doesn’t remember.
I don’t recall seeing it ... I would have thought so.
Victoria’s premier weathers upset after his top public servant resigned and NSW premier holds on after Icac revelations. In Queensland, opposition leader Deb Frecklington faces questions over event with Peter Dutton. Follow live
The Queensland Liberal National Party has categorically denied claims it referred its own party leader, Deb Frecklington to the electoral commission over concerns about her fundraising events.
The ABC reported this morning that the party referred Frecklington to the Electoral Commission of Queensland over a series of events, one where Peter Dutton was a guest, involving property developers.
NSW Health have set up a pop-up testing clinic, and alerted to more venues, after two GPs in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba tested positive for Covid-19.
Both doctors worked at the A2Z Medical Clinic, and are linked to a patient who was previously diagnosed with Covid-19, who attended Lakemba Radiology.
NSW premier is under pressure to resign after disclosing secret relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire
The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has admitted she “stuffed up” in her personal life, but has stared down calls to resign following extraordinary revelations she had for years maintained a secret “close personal relationship” with the disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.
In a press conference following her explosive appearance before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) on Monday, Berejiklian declared she had not considered resigning “because I haven’t done anything wrong”.
Victorian bar owner lodges legal challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s lockdown as fears in NSW grow over number of locally transmitted cases. Follow all the latest updates
Australian scientists have discovered that the virus that causes Covid-19 can survive for up to 28 days on surfaces such as the glass on mobile phones, stainless steel, vinyl and paper banknotes.
The virus survived longer on paper banknotes than on plastic banknotes and lasted longer on smooth surfaces rather than porous surfaces such as cotton.
NSW says a new cluster of three people is likely linked to an existing cluster. The premier Gladys Berejiklian is also warning that the public will be told of “additional venues, additional locations” to respond to during the day.
The remaining three cases of community transmission are all linked, and that source is being investigated by Health. Health has not ruled out also being able to establish a link between that new cluster of three people and also an existing cluster. It’s also important to note that we anticipate during the day there will be additional venues, additional locations, which we’ll be asking the public to respond to.
We anticipate that because we’ve identified these eight cases, that a number of close contacts and family members could be found to be positive as a result, so it’s really, really important for everybody to stay on high alert, look at the information which Health provides during the course of the day, and please react and make sure you take that advice. If you’re asked to get tested and stay home for 14 days, please make sure you do that.
In NSW, another four cases were recorded from returned travellers.
Of the eight locally-acquired cases, one is under investigation and seven are linked to a known case or cluster. NSW Health said:
One new case reported today was locally acquired, is likely to have been infected some days ago and appears linked to the Liverpool Hospital Dialysis cluster. Four more cases are close contacts of this case.
One new case is locally acquired whose source is under investigation. The remaining two cases today are close contacts of this case.
Testing numbers have dropped recently, which is a concern. NSW Health renews its call for increased testing across Sydney, even if you have the mildest of symptoms like a runny nose or scratchy throat, cough, fever or other symptoms that could be COVID-19.
This is especially important for people across West and South West Sydney with these new cases and after the state’s sewage surveillance program detected fragments of the virus at the North Richmond and West Camden treatment plants.