Category Archives: Anthony Albanese

Australia live news updates: call for inquiry into NSW flood response; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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AFLW final postponed after Covid outbreak; NSW Labor calls for inquiry into flood response; Ukraine embassy calls for Australian sanctions against two Russian oligarchs; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news live

From senior economics reporter Ben Butler and foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst:

Ukraine’s embassy in Canberra has joined calls for the Australian government to sanction two Russian oligarchs who have assets here, Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg.

The government of Ukraine is grateful to the government of Australia for its proactive and extensive sanctions policy against Russia, which is the biggest among the Indo-Pacific countries ...

We hope that those Russian oligarchs will be included in the next round of sanctions.

Vekselberg has already been sanctioned by the British and US governments. It’s curious that the Australian government has not yet followed suit given its claims of being in lockstep with the US and UK.

Vekselberg’s interest in Falcon pre-dates Origin’s farm-in agreement agreed in 2015, so Origin was entered into the joint venture with eyes wide open.

We certainly have had very limited capability to conduct experimental fires under extreme conditions. Nobody in their right mind is going to give us the go ahead to light a fire on a Black Saturday-type day ...

This lab means we’ll be able to study particular aspects of fire behaviour under the extreme conditions that are more likely to occur under climate change.

By using the data collected by the pyrotron, our prediction tools become more accurate. And that means better decision making about where firefighters can safely go, what firefighting strategies to use, and also improved emergency warnings for communities.

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‘An abomination’: Morrison signals sanctions against China if it helps arm Russia

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PM says Australia ‘will move in lockstep’ with allies on sanctioning the country’s largest trading partner

Scott Morrison has left the door open to introducing sanctions against China, Australia’s largest trading partner, if Chinese president Xi Jinping’s regime were to provide military equipment to Russia.

The prime minister said his government would move in lockstep with its allies and partners in response to what he called Beijing’s “chilling silence” on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said any move by China to arm Russia would be “an abomination”.

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Cruise ship ban to end; nation records 24 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Search for owner after bodies found in Newtown boarding house fire police believe was ‘maliciously lit’; cruise ship ban to end on April 17; Victorian health minister says Omicron subvariant ‘slowly asserting itself’; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths with 10 in Queensland. This blog is now closed

The government has decided to withdraw a women’s network logo that was widely mocked online for its phallic shape.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet issued a statement today saying the logo had been removed from its website “pending consultation with staff”:

The women’s network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years.

The rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely. No external providers were engaged for this work.

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Pressure mounts on Morrison government to include flooding in $10bn reinsurance pool

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Politicians at state and federal level back calls to expand Northern Australia cyclone scheme to other natural disasters across the country

The federal government is under increasing pressure to expand its reinsurance pool for cyclone damage to include flooding, with calls for the Coalition to pass the legislation in the final days of parliament before the looming election.

Politicians across the political divide, at state and federal level, have backed calls to expand the $10bn Northern Australia reinsurance pool for cyclone damage to cover more natural disasters, across the country. Several Coalition members – including Warren Entsch, one of the scheme’s principal advocates, and Kevin Hogan, representing the Lismore-based electorate of Page – have thrown their weight behind the changes, as well as north coast MPs Janelle Saffin and Tamara Smith.

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Scott Morrison says defence force ‘not available on a moment’s notice’ to respond to floods disaster

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Prime minister visits Lismore as government declared national emergency to release more resources to help

Scott Morrison was met with a fiery reception in flood-devastated Lismore, as he defended the speed of his government’s response to the disaster, saying the ADF is “not available on a moment’s notice”.

Ahead of Morrison’s arrival in Lismore, the federal government declared a national emergency around the floods, giving the Commonwealth greater power to send in defence force assets and skirt around administrative “red tape” to get financial support out quicker.

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Hugs and tears of joy at Perth airport as WA reopens its border

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‘Australia is now finally back together’ as final jurisdiction welcomes vaccinated travellers

The arrivals hall at Perth airport was filled with joy and hugs when the first planes to take advantage of Western Australia’s border reopening landed on Thursday.

After spending almost 700 days behind a hard border during the coronavirus pandemic, the “hermit” state of WA has finally welcomed vaccinated travellers.

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Piers Morgan parties with Sky News Australia mates after massive Murdoch payday | Weekly Beast

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Former Good Morning Britain host, who quit after a spectacular meltdown over Meghan Markle, strikes gold with News Corp. Plus: Hot Albo returns

Piers Morgan’s global talkshow is weeks away from launching but the British commentator was already handing out voting advice when he jetted in for Sky News Australia’s 25th anniversary party at the Sydney Opera House.

“Australians will want to elect the leader who they believe will move most swiftly to restore all freedom rights lost during the crisis, and who will be strong on national security,” Morgan said after arriving on Lachlan Murdoch’s private jet to celebrate with new colleagues including Peta Credlin, Chris Kenny and Rita Panahi.

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Australia news live updates: Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; international border reopens; 17 Covid deaths

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Perrottet urged to work with union over NSW train dispute; Peter Dutton says all signs on Ukraine ‘pointing in one direction’; at least 17 Covid-related deaths; Australia’s international border reopen for the first time in nearly two years. Follow the latest updates live

AGL Energy has rejected a takeover bid by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset management giant Brookfield, saying the preliminary offer “materially undervalues the company”.

Brookfield and Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures made the extraordinary offer to take over Australia’s most polluting company on Saturday, with a goal to shut its coal power plants earlier than planned.

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Australia politics news live updates: Rudd accuses Liberal party of ‘appeasing’ China; NSW nurses strike; at least 36 Covid deaths

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Victoria records 20 Covid deaths, NSW records 16; former Labor PM hits out at Peter Dutton; Morrison government prepares legislation that would speed up the deportation of foreign-born criminals convicted of violent or serious sexual offences. Follow live

Prime minister Scott Morrison has accused judges of handing out sentences that allow foreign-born criminals to dodge deportation.

The government will introduce legislation so non-citizens who have been convicted of a crime are easier to kick out. He tells 2GB radio that judges are giving out more lenient sentences so people are not captured under current laws. He says:

The judges are handing down sentences that allow people to get around this.

We want to make sure we can punt them.

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Australia politics news live updates: parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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Parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; Acoss calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded; treasurer asked about possible axing of low-income tax offset; politicians back in Canberra for final sitting week before federal budget. Follow all the day’s news

NSW treasurer Matt Kean is talking about the weekend’s byelection results. He says:

This wasn’t a referendum on the government ... these were four byelections that had unique issues in each of the seats.

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Lower house sits late to continue religious discrimination bill debate – as it happened

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Debate over religious discrimination bill to continue as House of Representatives agrees to sit late; Brittany Higgins calls for Jenkins review to be implemented; nation records at least 68 deaths from Covid – follow all the day’s news

The Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year, Sarah Martin reports. The report “set out to examine the needs of the care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care”:

I mentioned the Health Services Union’s survey earlier, in the context of the opposition hoping to wound the government over the aged care crisis.

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Australia politics live news updates: PM apologises to Brittany Higgins as parliament acknowledges history of bullying, harassment, sexual assault

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Apology for staff and politicians who have experienced sexual harassment, assault and bullying at Parliament House; Daniel Andrews welcomes border reopening, announces free RATs for kids in childcare; anti-vaccine mandate protests continue; Victoria records 9,785 Covid cases and 20 deaths, NSW records 9,690 cases and 18 deaths; Queensland records 5,178 cases and 12 deaths. Follow the latest updates live

The defence minister Peter Dutton has told the Today show he is reserving his right to take legal action against former NSW premier Bob Carr, who doubled down on his claims that Dutton was the “mystery minister” who called prime minister Scott Morrison a “psycho”. Dutton said:

It was not me. I mean, every family’s got this crazy uncle that wakes up from the rocking chair and sort of in a startled way shouts out something and I just don’t know what is going on with Bob Carr. Is he the full quid or not? He’s a bizarre guy. He hasn’t produced any evidence. He’s now saying if it’s not me, then the person needs to come forward to prove my innocence. I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I think he has discredited himself.

He hasn’t produced any evidence and you can’t just make a claim and then back away from it. But that’s what he’s done. I think it’s embarrassing for him and I think most journalists frankly have treated him as a bit of a joke and this sort of relevance deprivation syndrome cuts in for a lot of former politicians as we’ve discussed on the show before.

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Australia politics news live updates: Peter Dutton hits out at Bob Carr over text message claims as row deepens

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Barnaby Joyce ‘has some explaining to do’, Michael McCormack says; defence minister denies claims he was behind messages that branded the prime minister a ‘complete psycho’. Follow all the day’s news live

Communications minister Paul Fletcher is telling ABC radio about the restoration of funding to the national broadcaster (see Amanda Meade’s story, linked in a previous post).

The ABC will have to detail their levels of Australian content and other key services.

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Albanese demands Colbeck ‘resign today’ as nation records 82 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Albanese says aged care services minister ‘must resign today’; CMO says ‘we are past the peak’ of Omicron as nation records at least 82 Covid-19 deaths, with dozens of cases in ICU; bushfire emergency warning issued for East Rockingham. This blog is now closed

Speaking of the ongoing Covid aged care crisis, health and aged care minister Greg Hunt is defending the government’s handling of the situation, telling ABC radio that 99% of aged care workers are now double-vaccinated:

We have over 99% vaccination rate amongst aged care workers, one of the highest rates in the world; 91% vaccination rate for residents. We’ve been able to have one of the lowest rates of loss of life in aged care in the world ...

But it is immensely hard for so many. The mental health impacts of people being locked down in aged care, which is a protective mechanism for them, but at the same time it has a huge impact on their quality of life.

If they can’t endorse [federal environment minister Sussan Ley] they should get out of the way and let the federal executive ensure we can get things done.

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Australia news live updates: Morrison’s jobs goal prompts reaction while handling of Covid in aged care under scrutiny

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ACTU’s Sally McManus says PM’s plan to lower unemployment rates doesn’t necessarily mean better pay or security – follow all the day’s news

Morrison is asked about the question he was unable to answer yesterday - the cost of basics like bread and petrol and, in this day and age, rapid antigen tests. Morrison says he “didn’t hear” the question about RATs.

To be honest, I heard bread and milk on the question yesterday, it was a pretty robust and torrid time at the press club yesterday, I must admit I didn’t hear the question about rats, that’s the honest truth. Didn’t hear it. It’s about $15-$20 and they can be less than that ... if it gets above that they will be coming after those who are price gouging, so to be honest I didn’t hear that part of the question, I heard bread and milk and for the record, it depends which bread.

Little milk comes from a cow anymore, there are so many different things that people have available but if it’s two, three bucks, you can get petrol from $1.60 to $1.80. That’s what it is. It’s one of those old things they do with the press club to make a bit of a headline.

No, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that but I appreciate what Gladys said yesterday in our own dealings with each other ... I think we work very positively and I think we work very well together as a premier and PM to do very great things from New South Wales in particular ... I can’t speak to the other things that are all anonymous and she doesn’t recollect it but it’s certainly not a conversation we have ever had.

People say nasty things about the prime minister all the time, they say nasty things about people in the media – just switch on social media. You will get yourself quite a giggle and I get one all the time. It goes with the job.

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NT chief minister says Omicron ‘too infectious’ for lockdowns to work as nation records at least 88 Covid deaths – As it happened

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Michael Gunner says lockdowns and lockouts no longer effective; At least 88 Covid deaths recorded around the country as Kerry Chant says Omicron sub-variant is circulating in NSW; Queensland reveals back-to-school plan. This blog is now closed

Albanese says Labor will boost aged-care funding, but cannot specify by how much.

There has been a boost.

Two things they haven’t done: One is to tie that funding of actual delivery of better healthcare for aged-care residents in terms of some of the regulatory measures required that were recommended by the royal commission, but the big missing piece in this workforce, we still don’t have a commitment to have a nurse in a nursing home.

We still don’t have a commitment to increase in the number of other care workers in aged care, and we still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged-care facilities are able to attract the staff.

Quite clearly there will be a need for increased health funding, but there is a need also to look at the particular areas of funding.

GPs, for example. One of the reasons there is so much pressure on the hospitals is we have GP shortages in terms of training, we have GP shortages in terms of some of the changes that they’ve made to the Medicare schedule that have had an impact in our regions.

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No decision on ‘fully vaccinated’ definition as at least 72 Covid deaths recorded – as it happened

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Atagi still considering whether to change vaccination advice; nation records at least 72 Covid deaths with 13 in SA including reconciled data of death notifications from past fortnight; Central Land Council calls for central NT lockdown. This blog is now closed

Back to the EU ambassador, and he has confirmed the European Union would respond if Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border.

Nurses and midwives at Sydney’s Liverpool hospital are striking today, demanding the government take action to address the staffing crisis impacting health care across the state.

Some of them are in tears here this morning, just come off a night shift. They are caring for, sometimes, one nurse for eight to 10 people and Covid has made their situation so harrowing.

Our hospital system really is at a breaking point and they are asking for ... fair, safe staffing levels here in our hospitals. Here in south-western Sydney, these nurses saw the brunt of the Delta outbreak, a failure of national quarantine, a failure of the vaccine rollout, and now they are seeing with Omicron the failure of the rapid antigen testing.

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Australia news live update: nation records at least 74 Covid deaths; Invasion Day rallies begin; lockdown call for NT remote communities

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Lockdown call for NT remote communities as nation records at least 74 deaths from Covid-19; Scott Morrison speaks at Australia Day ceremony in Canberra; Russian ambassador to Australia says country ‘doesn’t intend to invade’ Ukraine; Invasion Day protests begin. Follow all the day’s news

A leading health expert has warned of the potential spread of the virulent Omicron Covid-19 strain during events today as large crowds gather for protest or celebration, AAP reports.

Jane Halton, chair of the coalition for epidemic preparedness and former health department head, says the closer people pack together the more likely it is the virus will spread.

We know it’s highly infectious and the closer everyone gets together, the more the likelihood you’ll be close to someone whose got Covid and therefore the greater the likelihood you’ll contract it.

People should be careful. What we don’t want to see is a big increase in cases.

I don’t think we should be cancelling things. I just think people should be courteous, thoughtful, and a little bit careful.

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Australia news live update: NSW and Victoria each record 21 Covid deaths; cases in hospital top 3,700; $1,000 fines in NSW for not reporting positive RATs

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NSW records 34,759 Covid cases and 2,242 hospitalisations on state’s deadliest day; Victoria reports 40,127 cases with 946 in hospital as more than 6,600 health workers furloughed, Queensland 22,069 cases and 525 in hospital, Tasmania 1,583 cases and 22 in hospital; $1,000 fines for not reporting positive rapid antigen tests in NSW. Follow all the day’s news

In New South Wales, four people have been rescued after a ute was swept into a flooded creek in the Hunter Valley last night.

Emergency services were called to Wells Gully Road at McCulleys Gap late last night, after the ute was swept off the spillway into Sandy Creek. A 49-year-old man, a 16-year-old boy, and two girls aged 14 were forced to climb on to the roof of the car after it began to sink in strongly flowing flood waters.

He has his own philosophy if he thinks like that ... he’s the most healthiest guy, he takes care of his life ... he’s playing tennis and he wants to stay. And I know that he’s doing everything to stay healthy to take care of his body, so ... if he’s not, he doesn’t want to, that’s his choice.

So, what’s the problem? You know, the vaccination – the vaccination, it’s not that I’m against it of course I’m not ... it’s not the point. If he’s healthy, his PCR is negative, why he cannot play?

I cannot say the ... all issues I don’t know exactly I’m reading in the newspapers. I didn’t talk to Novak about that. So I really cannot say anything. What I can say, that Judge Kelly [has] decided that Novak is free. So for me, this is closed book.

He didn’t know. Probably he didn’t know it, because when he realised [about] isolation, then he go to isolate ... because he didn’t know anything about that, He ... I really cannot say but it’s maybe the best is to ask him.

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Australia Covid news live update: new daily record of 47,738 cases nationwide; ACCC to ‘name and shame’ over soaring RAT prices

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A key figure in South Australia’s response to Covid has tested positive to the virus this morning.

Police commissioner Grant Stevens is the state’s emergency coordinator during the pandemic. After waking up yesterday with a sore throat he is now isolating at home.

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