Category Archives: Gladys Berejiklian

Australia politics live: Victoria to reveal roadmap out of Covid lockdown as regional NSW under pressure

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Daniel Andrews due to unveil ‘modest’ changes to the state’s current lockdown a day after two women died from Covid. Follow the latest updates live

Anthony Albanese had a chat to Triple M Newcastle where he continued to hone Labor’s national plan message when it comes to the premiers:

Well, they all signed up for the national plan. The national plan, of course, provides for various protections to be continued to be available at 70% and 80%. No one wants restrictions. Restrictions affect people’s way of life and their capacity to get around and it hurts the economy. But to be fair to Queensland at the moment, South Australia also, I noticed Scott Morrison never talks about the Liberal states, South Australia and Tasmania and Queensland and Western Australia all have their borders closed to New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT at the moment. That’s a decision that is perfectly understandable. WA is getting the Grand Final in the AFL. Brisbane will get the Grand Final in the Rugby League. And it’s tough times, but these decisions have been made to keep their citizens safe.

If you are thinking that the Victorian numbers are usually out by now, you would be right.

There is a delay this morning (we usually get them around 8.30am) but in the past, when there has been more complicated data to reconcile, it has taken a little longer.

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Australia Covid live news update: Morrison announces Pfizer vaccine deal; ACT extends lockdown, three deaths and 1,164 cases in NSW, Victoria 76 cases

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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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NSW Covid-19 update: 1,164 cases as intensive care nurse says patients ‘sickest we’ve seen’ – video

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New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced 1,164 new cases of locally acquired Covid-19, and three more deaths. Intensive care nurse at Liverpool hospital, Michelle Dowd, described how physically and emotionally hard the work in ICU is caring for Covid patients. She said, 'These patients are some of the sickest we've ever seen. They require so much support and monitoring and physical care. We're in layers of PPE, sometimes for hours at a time' 

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Australia’s Covid vaccine challenges have been ‘overcome’, Scott Morrison says

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PM’s assertion comes as national death toll since pandemic began surpasses 1,000 and states seek more Pfizer amid Delta outbreak

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.

The prime minister’s assertion came as the country marked the grim milestone of the first Indigenous death from a Covid-19 case, in western NSW, and as the national death toll surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic began in early 2020.

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Australia Covid news: health system on the brink of crisis as NSW braces for another record day of cases – live

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Fears Sydney hospital ICUs are under extreme strain as nurses speak out about ‘hellhole’ conditions. Follow latest updates

Meanwhile, mRNA supplies should be increasing over the next couple of months, but older Australians who waited to have a choice could find themselves at the back of the queue:

Related: Older Australians at back of queue for mRNA vaccines despite Atagi advice to give them choice

Brisbane is getting its second mass vaccination hub, this time in the Boondall entertainment centre. That will open up on 8 September, and help take the pressure off the existing hub, which is in the city.

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Australia Covid live update: NSW reports record 1,218 cases and six deaths; Victoria extends lockdown after 92 infections

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NSW allows small weddings despite rising case numbers; Victoria’s Delta cluster emerges in bayside Port Melbourne; ACT reports 13 new cases and New Zealand 83. Follow all the day’s news

For those in NSW, a new venue of concern has been released by NSW Health.

⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – NEW VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️

We have been notified of a number of new close and casual contact venues of concern associated with confirmed cases of COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/3F7VnSkGk9

I’m just about to finish up for the day!

But before I leave you in the extremely capable hands of my colleague, Elias Visontay, let’s take a look back at today’s biggest headlines:

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Covid Australia live news update: greater Sydney lockdown extended until end of September; NSW announces 642 cases, four deaths; Victoria records 55 cases

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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

Berejiklian:

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.

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Covid Australia live news update: NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; ACT records 22 and Victoria 24; New Zealand cluster rises to seven

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NSW confirms 633 cases and three deaths; Victoria records 24 new local cases as CHO says outbreak disproportionately affecting children; New Zealand cluster rises to seven cases. Follow all the day’s news

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.

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Australia Covid live news: NSW to give update; Victoria records 24 cases; nation on edge as more than 13 million under lockdown

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Victoria records 24 local cases as state wakes to tougher restrictions; NSW warned cases could hit 1,000 a day; ACT and parts of NT under lockdown. Follow all the day’s news

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.

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Australia secures 1m Pfizer vaccine doses from Poland, with half earmarked for Sydney Covid hotspots

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530,000 of the new doses to go to 20-to-39-year-olds living in the 12 hotspot LGAs as NSW struggles to contain outbreak

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.

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Australia Covid live news updates: ACT enters lockdown as three more cases confirmed; NSW records 345 cases and two deaths

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ACT begins seven-day lockdown; more restrictions for NSW as state confirms 345 new local cases and two deaths; high court declines to hear Murugappan family case; Queensland reports 10 new cases; Victoria records 21 new cases. Follow all the day’s news

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.

Related: NSW inmate released on bail before prison received positive Covid test result

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Australia Covid live news update: NSW records 262 new cases and Victoria 11; Cairns to enter snap lockdown

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Victorian clinics to offer AstraZeneca to under 40s as state records 11 cases; Gladys Berejiklian says vaccine rollout ‘is a race’ as NSW records 262 cases and one death; Queensland records nine new cases, with lockdown to end for 11 LGAs today. Follow live

The new drive-through vaccination clinic will have capacity to administer 10,000 vaccines per week. That’s a conservative number, Bromley says, and may be limited by Pfizer supply.

She urges people to book ahead before turning up at the drive-through clinic.

To start it will be 10 cars at a time. Obviously this week all the processes will be reviewed and they’ll make it as big and as fast as efficient as possible. But we’ll start with 10 cars coming through.

Bromley says the rest of the state-run clinics will soon be allowed to deliver the AstraZeneca vaccine to under 40s. Only nine will be used initially, to test demand and the informed consent process.

So we’ll just do that initially, open up the nine hubs and the reason for that is, A, we want to see what the demand is. We want to know that we’re going to be able to manage that and we want to make sure that the process, because there is an additional process, as Brett sort of talked through, for these individuals coming through, they will go through a slightly more rigorous consent process. We want to make sure we got the systems and the workforce all set up perfectly so it’s running smoothly and so it doesn’t impact on the overall efficiency of the system.

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Australia Covid live update: NSW records 233 cases and two deaths, including man in 20s; one new case in both Victoria and WA

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Two deaths overnight in Sydney and 233 new local cases in NSW; Queensland to reschedule public holiday as 17 cases recorded. Question time returns. Follow latest updates

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.

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Australia politics live: parliament resumes; Victoria records four new Covid cases; Westmead hospital worker tests positive

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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

The RBA is meeting today to discuss Australia’s cash rate.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you...but expect, no change.

For those interested, you can find the daily legislation schedule for the house, here

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Australia Covid live update: some children aged 12 to 15 eligible for vaccine; NSW confirms 207 cases and 15th death; Qld records 13 cases and extends lockdown

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NSW records 15th death; Queensland announces business support package as it extends lockdown in 11 LGAs until Sunday; South Australia restrictions eased; Victoria records two local cases; 300 ADF troops start patrolling in Sydney. 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.

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Australia Covid update: NSW reports 239 new cases and seven ICU patients in their 20s

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Gladys Berejiklian says higher vaccination rates the ‘only way to live with Delta’ as Queensland cluster grows to 18 on first day of snap lockdown

Gladys Berejiklian has said New South Wales plans to break vaccination records this month in an effort to control Covid-19, as the state recorded 239 new cases – the equal-highest daily figure in the current Delta outbreak.

The NSW premier on Sunday said higher vaccination rates were the “only way to live with Delta or any other horrific strain that comes along” and urged people in NSW to make August their month to come out and get vaccinated.

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Nobody in ICU fully vaccinated: how one small mistake became fodder for conspiracy theorists – video

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During a Covid-19 press conference, NSW health offical Jeremy McAnulty ‘misspoke’ and inferred that all Covid patients in intensive care had been vaccinated when in fact none of them had been fully vaccinated. The video of the mistake has been widely shared on social media. A single post on one Australian page which regularly shares vaccination misinformation had more than 1,800 'interactions', including almost 300 'shares'. In less regulated online spaces, the video has been shared globally among conspiracist groups. In US-based Telegram groups clips of the video have been seen tens of thousands of times across various groups. Some called it evidence the vaccine is 'deadly gene therapy' and 'pure poison'. The Guardian also saw posts sharing the video in Telegram pages in Europe and the UK

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Australia Covid live news update: Gladys Berejiklian confirms 170 new local cases in NSW; Victoria records three cases and Queensland one

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NSW will vaccinate 20,000 year 12 student over five days, premier says, as state records 170 local Covid-19 cases overnight; three local cases recorded in Victoria; Queensland student in community for three days while infectious; national cabinet meeting. Follow latest updates

Back to the student vaccinations for a second, Gladys Berekijlian says the vaccination hub will be available for AstraZeneca doses after the 20,000 year 12’s have got their Pfizer jabs.

We are keen, in those eight local government areas of concern, to get year 12 face-to-face from the 16 August and that’s why I’m pleased to say we’ve moved heaven and earth to get what’s available from the 9 August.

During that week, we will be vaccinating around 19,200 HSC students in those eight local government areas...

NSW has enlisted the help of the ADF to patrol the streets and enforce lockdown compliance in the eight hotspot LGA’s in Syndey’s southwest.

This area has a high population of people who are immigrants and refugees, including many who have travelled to Australia to escape war town countries.

It’s sensitive but we’ve working through the ADF with the bushfires and floods and they been involved in hotel quarantine and other parts of the state so this is just an extension of our compliance of its buses is that Police Commissioner said, we have thousands and thousands of close contacts and can’t afford to have at least one of them out there in the community in case they have the virus.

We have wanted to people infectious can cause a spiral, a ripple effect which causes a major setback. That’s why I’m so strongly appealing to everybody, please don’t go to the protest activity tomorrow, it’s going to prolong the pain for all of us. Surely care about your loved ones. Don’t give them a death sentence.

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Australia Covid live update: 2 million in western Sydney face tougher lockdown as some construction resumes

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Residents of eight local government areas banned from leaving hotspots unless they are essential workers; tradespeople now allowed into clients’ homes. Follow all the day’s news

Oooh, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking early this morning. I wonder if we will get the Covid-19 update at this event or if we will have to wait for the CHO to step up later in the day:

Daniel Andrews is speaking at from 9.45am at a level crossing removal.

NSW is lagging behind many other states and territories when it comes to vaccinating its elderly population, with fewer than 40% of over-70s fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

New data released by the federal government on Wednesday provides a state breakdown of national vaccination numbers for the first time. The figures reveal that of the almost 1 million people over 70 in NSW, 77% have received a first vaccine dose and 39% have received a second.

Related: Just 39% of NSW residents over 70 are fully vaccinated against Covid, despite push for jabs

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Australia Covid live news update: Scott Morrison announces increase to support payments as NSW records 11th death of outbreak

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NSW records 177 local cases, lockdown extended four weeks; single bubbles now allowed in greater Sydney; those on welfare support now eligible for federal disaster payments, NSW premier says; Victoria records eight local cases overnight, and a new local, non-quarantined case today. Follow all the day’s news

And here’s the video of Scott Morrison comparing the vaccine take-up to a gold medal run at the Olympics earlier today:

Reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.

Michael McGowan has this story after NSW announced that rapid tests would be used during Sydney’s continuing lockdown.

Related: Cautious welcome for rapid antigen tests to control Sydney Covid outbreak, despite reliability concerns

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