Category Archives: Gladys Berejiklian

Australia news live: NSW records seven new Covid cases, six linked to Avalon cluster

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Seventh case lives on northern beaches with source under investigation, as Avalon cluster grows to 122. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Sticking with Cricket for a bit, Cricket Australia is edging closer to a decision on where the third Test will be held, with officials saying its a “50-50 situation”.

Preparations have begun to prepare the MCG for the test, as Cricket Australia remains in negotiations with the NSW and Queensland governments.

Related: Sydney Test a '50-50' chance as MCG starts work on standby pitch

The cricket is on, as per summer tradition, but that of course also means we get good banter.

Why are Aussies and Kiwis so good at banter? #AUSvIND #NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/LL55SFOSVZ

Related: Australia v India: second Test, day two – live!

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NSW premier calls on shoppers to avoid Sydney’s Boxing Day sales as Covid cluster grows to 108

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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

  • NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations
  • Border restrictions: rules for NSW travellers
  • Second person from superyacht moored in Cairns tests positive

    • 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”.

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    Australia live news: NSW records seven local Covid cases after 70,000 tests as Christmas Day celebrations continue

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    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

  • NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations
  • NSW premier calls on shoppers to avoid Sydney’s Boxing Day sales
  • Border restrictions: rules for NSW travellers

    • It has been a whole year since the skies parted and the almighty delivered this gift - Barnaby Joyce’s memorable Christmas message for the ages.

    In the video, the Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister declared “I just don’t want the government anymore in my life”.

    Merry Christmas pic.twitter.com/QGYPv51pTN

    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.

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    Australia coronavirus live: NSW records nine new Covid cases as ‘Avalon cluster’ grows to 104 cases

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    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.

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    Australia coronavirus live: NSW reports eight more Covid cases as premier modifies Christmas restrictions in Sydney

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    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.

    For more information on the NSW outbreak and a map of locations in each zone, visit: https://t.co/sDimRWNc6F (2/2)#COVID19Vic #COVID19nsw

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    Australia coronavirus live: NSW records eight new Covid cases as Gladys Berejiklian gives update

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    Victoria reports one Covid case as the number of new cases in NSW falls for a second day. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
    • NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations
    • Border restrictions: the new state and territory rules for NSW travellers
    • Australia’s Covid restrictions and lockdown rules – state by state
    • Follow the global liveblog

    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.

    Related: Fighting for Fraser Island: how tourism and climate change put an ancient environment at risk

    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.

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    Greater Sydney lockdown fears as Gladys Berejiklian warns coronavirus cases to worsen

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    NSW premier says Sydney ‘on notice’ as travellers into Queensland to require border pass declaration and WA reimposes hard border

    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.

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: NSW records 10 new Covid cases on northern beaches as Qld and Victoria border restrictions outlined

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    Christmas travel plans up in the air after Sydney cluster grows to 28 and Qld, WA, Victoria and Tasmania announce new border restrictions and quarantine measures

    When asked why he isn’t implementing a hard border with NSW, Mcgown says it’s because the outbreak is not as “spread out” as the Adelaide outbreak, when the state did implement a hard border.

    “It’s based upon the number of cases and the spread of the cases. So if the cases are out from their existing location to other parts of Sydney or New South Wales, if the numbers grow as they have, or even more, then there may well be a requirement to go to a harder border arrangement.”

    WA health minister Roger Cook has announced one additional case in the state overnight, which takes total cases to 844.

    In relation to the clinics, he says all travellers who have arrived in WA from NSW between 11 and 17 December are required to immediately self-quarantine and be tested at a Covid clinic. They will have to remain in quarantine until they receive a negative result.

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    Australia news live: China row simmers; NSW awaits Covid case numbers

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    MP Andrew Hastie has criticised the release of details included in the war crimes report for allowing China to ‘malign our troops’; PM faces questions over Murdoch Christmas party flight; NSW awaits update on new Covid cluster. Follow all today’s news

    Good morning, Matilda Boseley here. It’s nearly the end of the week and what better way to reach the finish line than to stick around on the Guardian live blog and get all your much-needed news updates, Covid-19 or otherwise.

    First up, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has criticised the Brereton Report which he says was filled with “unproven rumours” of Australian soldiers murdering Afghan children, saying the report has given China an opening to malign Australian troops.

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    Dfat reveals 36,875 Australians are stranded overseas, including 8,070 vulnerable people – live news

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    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.

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    Victoria posts record $23.3bn deficit; Queensland to open border on 1 December – follow live

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    Victoria records zero active cases for the first time since outbreak as SA plans to drop restrictions on 1 December – follow latest updates

    Further to Andrew Hastie’s comments on the Brereton report, which we reported earlier, the WA Liberal MP has been on the ABC expanding on his call for greater parliamentary oversight of the military.

    He tells Andrew Probyn:

    Defence is a huge organisation. In order for parliament to exercise proper civilian oversight of the military you have to have a baseline understanding of the capabilities, the methods, and the operations of the ADF. If we can’t talk about those things in public, we can’t talk about them at all.

    So we need to talk about them in a classified space and right now there is no such mechanism in the parliament to increase parliamentarians’ understanding of defence and therefore enable parliament to hold it to account.

    Scott Morrison and the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, swapped notes on Covid-19 situations in their two countries during a phone call this afternoon.

    A readout issued by Morrison’s office says the pair also discussed progress on vaccine trials and they “were encouraged by the more positive trajectory of their economies in the third quarter”.

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    South Australia Covid cluster grows to 20; NSW residents to get $100 dining vouchers – live news

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    SA will reintroduce coronavirus restrictions after the number of confirmed and probable cases rises to 20; NSW announces that residents will receive four $25 vouchers to spend on eating out and entertainment. Follow the latest updates

    Returned travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a coronavirus cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel, regardless of how many days they have already served.

    It means some returned travellers may be forced to quarantine for up to 28 days.

    Travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a Covid-19 cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel. Those due to finish today may be forced to quarantine for 28 days. These documents were given to guests @GuardianAus https://t.co/guSOkfaEWn pic.twitter.com/GrBY9211J6

    It’s stressful, because they literally shove a letter under the door, but there was no knock or assistance to explain it to us ... People are due to leave this morning. Imagine being told you had to do it all again, imagine if you missed your flight.

    Our room door has been closed since we moved in, nothing has been breached here. Moving us through and putting us on a bus, surely that brings more risk of spreading the virus?

    The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands (located in the remote north west of South Australia) will close their borders to for three weeks as the Covid-19 threat rises in South Australia.

    The APY Board of Management closed the borders at midnight and says it will manage its borders via the legislated system of permits.

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    Gladys Berejiklian says she can’t recall if she was at dinner where Labor claims illegal donations were made

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    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.

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    Victoria’s hotel quarantine program revealed to cost $195m – as it happened

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    Four new coronavirus cases recorded in NSW southern highlands as Victoria quarantine inquiry delivers interim report. This blog is now closed

    That’s it for tonight, thanks for reading. To recap today’s developments:

    The chief of the defence force, Angus Campbell, has released a statement about the inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

    Campbell said he received the Afghanistan inquiry report today, which examined the conduct of elite Australian forces in more than 55 incidents of alleged unlawful killings between 2005 and 2016.

    Today I have received the Afghanistan Inquiry report from the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF).

    The independent inquiry was commissioned by Defence in 2016 after rumours and allegations emerged relating to possible breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict by members of the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan over the period 2005 to 2016.

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    Australia news live: Victoria and NSW report no new Covid cases as Queensland pushed to open border

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    Border restrictions continue to be eased as Australian politicians respond to US election result. Follow latest updates

    The best doughnut, is a jam doughnut, followed closely by cinnamon.

    Both fresh, of course.

    Related: How doughnuts became Australia's symbol of Covid hope

    News Hub reports New Zealand’s US ambassador has commented on the election. As government employees, ambassadors are prevented from indicating political views (despite being political appointments) but it looks like Scott Brown, for one, is feeling confident enough in the result to be a little honest.

    From News Hub’s report:

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    Coronavirus Australia live updates: 800 people forced to self-isolate after outbreak at Melbourne college

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    Today’s meeting between federal, state and territory leaders will focus on removing social and border restrictions to jumpstart the economy. Follow live

    On the bonuses that aren’t blingy watches.

    In just the year to June, Australia Post paid $1.95 million in bonuses to 35 of its executives earning over $520,000 a year. That’s 648 Cartier watches - or 162 times the total Cartier watch spend. (Or about 27,850 Casio watches...) https://t.co/S8mmcqJmhh

    We will probably be in a bit of a news lull while national cabinet is meeting and the US presidential election debate is on in about 25 minutes.

    You can follow the debate in our other live blog here.

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    Australian politics live: five Melbourne suburbs on Covid alert as Victoria and NSW premiers still under pressure

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    A school student in Melbourne’s north tested positive to coronavirus, putting the suburbs of Dallas, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Preston and West Heidelberg on high alert. Follow live

    Australia Post is up in the communications estimates committee hearing - that starts at 9

    NSW has reported just one locally acquired case - another six are in hotel quarantine.

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    Parliament resumes as Victoria reports one new Covid case and NSW five – politics live

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    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.

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    Former MP didn’t know why he spoke in ‘code’ during conversation with premier – as it happened

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    The former Wagga Wagga MP and the NSW premier have previously said it was 2015. This blog is now closed

    And that is where I will leave you.

    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.

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    Icac NSW inquiry: Daryl Maguire gives evidence as Gladys Berejiklian refuses to resign – live

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    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

    • Berejiklian faces questions about meeting with convicted criminals
    • Maguire asked business associate to delete messages and emails
    • Anne Davies: the Liberals have failed to learn from Labor’s mistakes
    • Richard Ackland: NSW would be a more unsavoury place without Icac

    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.

    We’re now taking a 15 minute recess adjournment.

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