Category Archives: Victorian politics

Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports nine new cases and Bondi beach to close as crowds reach capacity

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Victoria to return to staged face-to-face teaching next week; treasurer Josh Frydenberg promises a jobs-focused budget. Follow live

Here’s the latest case data from Victoria:

Three of today’s nine new cases have been linked to known outbreaks or are considered complex cases. These are linked to the Butcher’s Club Chadstone Shopping Centre outbreak, with single cases linked to Corrigan Produce Farms Clyde North and Coles Williamstown. The other six cases remain under investigation.

Anglicare is calling on the federal government to increase jobseeker and fund social housing projects in tomorrow’s budget announcements.

“A permanent boost to jobseeker will add billions of dollars to the economy and at least 145,000 full-time jobs. The benefits would go straight to the areas that need them most,” Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said in a statement.

Social housing will offer relief for the tens of thousands of people who are homeless in Australia. It also boosts GDP, and creates jobs in construction for the regions that need it most.

With the economy reeling in the wake of the coronavirus, we need to invest in projects that are shovel-ready. There is no time to waste. Social housing projects can get off the ground quickly – and they bring long-term benefits.

The fact is that one-off payments and tax cuts won’t help people out of poverty. And they won’t boost the economy. A jobseeker increase and social housing will do both.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports four deaths and 13 new Covid cases as NSW records four

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NSW records no new locally acquired cases for fifth day as pressure mounts over border closures and budget speculation intensifies. Follow all today’s updates

In aviation news, the regional airline Rex has announced it will start flights between capital cities in 2021, as a competitor to Qantas and Virgin.

Rex has signed letters of intent to lease six Boeing 737 planes, which will fly between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, AAP reports.

Hi all, it is Naaman Zhou here. Thanks as always to Amy Remeikis for her blog captaining today.

Pokies profits dropped sharply during the first wave of the pandemic, but are still in the billions, according to new figures released today and reported by AAP.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria hotel quarantine inquiry finds private security decision influenced by police preference

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Melbourne’s stage four restrictions ease as Victoria records three deaths and five new Covid cases and NSW reports zero. Follow live

A man who had been deported to New Zealand, and who was in isolation at a government-run quarantine hotel, is under investigation by the police after he tied bed sheets together to escape the facility from a fourth floor window.

All travellers returning to the country – only New Zealanders and their families, plus others with special exemptions are allowed to pass through its borders – must spend two weeks in mandatory isolation, during which they are tested twice for Covid-19.

I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Naaman Zhou for the rest of the afternoon shift.

There have been quite a few messages today – I am slowly working my way through them – but if you have anything else to say, or I missed you, you can contact me here and here.

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Victoria reports 21 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths as Brett Sutton apologises to Afghan community

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State’s chief health officer says it was ‘inappropriate’ to single out migrant community in Casey

Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has apologised for comments he made singling out Melbourne’s Afghan community in relation to a Covid-19 outbreak in Casey.

Sutton made the apology as the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced 21 new coronavirus cases and seven more deaths in the state on Saturday. It was the lowest number of new Covid-19 cases in the state since 24 June.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Daniel Andrews holds Covid press conference as Victoria reports 35 new cases and NSW four

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Victoria to turn roads and footpaths into dining spaces to help hospitality industry as Queensland border row deepens. Follow all today’s news

When will regional Victoria learn more about its restrictions being eased?

Daniel Andrews:

We will be here tomorrow and hopefully there will be no mystery cases in the data I report tomorrow and hopefully we can have more to say.

No doubt, there will be criticism that we haven’t been given any notice but this is nature of these things.

Professor Brett Sutton is then asked about some of the restrictions being eased today (very small easings).

They are baby steps. We all recognise that it is not an absolute sea change in terms of what is opening up.

That is what we’re trying to manage here. We are managing expectations and we’re being clear that outdoor activities are the low-risk activities.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria Covid cases drop below 50 for first time since June as NSW records four – as it happened

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Melbourne’s stage 4 lockdown extended by two weeks in ‘roadmap’ as Victoria pursues aggressive suppression strategy. This blog has ended

Thanks for following our live coverage of the coronavirus coverage in Australia. You can continue to follow our rolling global coverage here.

A quick recap on what happened today:

Asked if he would step down as premier if the hotel quarantine inquiry laid the blame for the outbreak on his office, Andrews said his responsibility was to keep going.

My position and the responsibility I have is to see our state through this. What is what I’m focused on.

Let me be as frank as I can be: Politics has never mattered less to me. Leadership is not able doing what’s popular, it is about doing what’s right.

The politics of this, that is of no value. The only thing that matters is we all stay the course. We all keep following the data, the science and the doctors and get this done. Then move to the biggest economic repair job that our state has ever seen.

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Melbourne anti-lockdown protests: at least 15 arrested in violent clashes with police

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Protesters seen chanting ‘freedom’ and hurling abuse at police and media while not wearing masks

At least 15 people have been arrested at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Albert Park after at least 200 protesters defied the city’s stage-four lockdowns to hold an anti-lockdown rally on Saturday.

Police in New South Wales also arrested three people at an unauthorised protest in Sydney’s Hyde Park while another protest was held at Sydney’s Olympic Park. Smaller protests were also held in Townsville, Brisbane and Byron Bay.

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Australia coronavirus live update: Victoria records 73 new cases and 41 deaths as NSW records 10 new cases

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Figure of 41 deaths in Victoria includes 33 people who died in aged care but not reported until yesterday; legislation to extend but reduce jobkeeper and jobseeker payments will be considered by the Senate today. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

This report from AAP earlier today:

NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, is calling for a national code to allow agricultural workers to cross state borders without permits.

Twenty Victorian aged care providers have been found to be non-compliant with standards under the Aged Care Act since July.

My colleague Melissa Davey has this report:

Related: Twenty Victorian aged care homes ordered to improve 'inadequate' standards after Covid outbreaks

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Victoria’s new coronavirus cases fall to lowest rate in two months as 18 more die from Covid-19

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Premier Daniel Andrews says it is ‘too early’ to allow people who live alone to visit other households

The number of new Covid-19 cases in Victoria has dropped below 100 for the first time since 5 July but the state has recorded another 18 deaths, 16 of those linked to aged care outbreaks.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said while announcing the 94 new cases that the downward trend was promising but cases would need to drop to “the lowest number we can get” before restrictions were eased.

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Victoria reports 113 new cases, NSW nine and Queensland two – as it happened

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Labor grills the Coalition on aged care and the PM discusses the foreign relations bill. This blog is now closed

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

#breaking Sports rorts: 70% of grants from separate fund went to Coalition seats, Greens say #auspol #sportsrorts https://t.co/iej3ex14JO

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Textbook used in Victorian schools repeats Chinese government propaganda

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The textbook, which has now been recalled, includes passages that critics believe endorse China’s authoritarian rule and are ‘straight out of the party playbook’

A textbook used in some Victorian schools includes portions that repeat Chinese Communist party propaganda and features a controversial map in which China claims most of the South China Sea in contradiction of Australian government policy.

The Guardian can reveal concerns about the material have prompted the publisher, Cengage Learning Asia, to recall unsold copies of the textbook, which the Melbourne-based authors said they had written to suit the course design of the Victorian senior school subject Chinese language, culture and society.

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Scott Morrison defends aged care minister who didn’t know number of Covid deaths

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Richard Colbeck apologises for federal government’s role in aged care outbreaks but denies it was ‘absent’

  • Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rules; NSW hotspots
  • Australian stats interactive; Vic cases map; NSW cases map
  • Sign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus email

    • Scott Morrison has declared he still has confidence in his aged care minister after Richard Colbeck came under pressure at a Senate inquiry and was unable to recall how many people had died in aged care during the pandemic.

    Colbeck apologised on Friday for the times when the Morrison government “didn’t get everything right” in dealing with aged care outbreaks – but insisted it had been prepared for what it sincerely believed to be the worst-case scenarios.

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    Hotel quarantine linked to 99% of Victoria’s Covid cases, inquiry told

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    Dr Charles Alpren confirms more than 90% of cases since the end of May are linked to Rydges and almost all the others to Stamford Plaza

    The vast majority of the cases of Covid-19 in Victoria can be traced back to a single family that returned to Australia in mid-May who were kept in hotel quarantine at the Rydges Hotel, an inquiry has heard.

    The Australian Defence Force has also confirmed that an offer of personnel for hotel quarantine was specifically made to all states and territories.

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    Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry to examine genomic testing in hunt for ‘patient zero’

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    Security companies and return travellers may also be called to give evidence at judicial inquiry this week

  • Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions; Victoria stage 3 restrictions
  • Sign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus email

    • The judicial inquiry into Victoria’s hotel quarantine program will on Monday examine evidence from the Melbourne health institute whose genomic testing could shed more light on the source and spread of the state’s second wave.

    The inquiry, called by the Victorian government after “unacceptable infection control breaches in hotel quarantine” and chaired by Jennifer Coate, confirmed on Sunday it had added an extra two days of hearings to its schedule for the week.

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    Victoria records 279 new Covid cases and 16 deaths as NSW reports five cases and one death

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    Daniel Andrews expresses ‘cautious optimism’ but declines to say whether restrictions may be eased after six-week lockdown

    • Follow the Sunday coronavirus liveblog
    • Shorten lashes out at profit-driven aged care and Morrison government over Covid failings

    Victoria recorded another 16 coronavirus deaths on Sunday as well as 279 new cases, as the premier Daniel Andrews expressed “cautious optimism” that the state’s harsh stage four restrictions were finally bringing the crisis under control.

    “These numbers are heading in the right direction,” Andrews said. “They speak to a strategy that is working. At the same time, no one day necessarily guarantees the outcome – that is a long hard slog.”

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 14 deaths and 372 new Covid cases as NSW awaits Ruby Princess report

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    Agriculture minister calls for federal approach to border rules; NSW on alert over community transmission. Follow the latest news and updates

    This came through late yesterday from NSW Health:

    NSW Health is advising of a new public health alert for Liverpool Hospital and Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club.

    Peter Dutton had some things to say about the border closure between NSW and Queensland on the Nine network today:

    When you get a premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk making announcements about border closures when Gladys Berejiklian is doing a press conference and she is caught out, the question is asked of her and she knows nothing about it, she hadn’t been contacted by Queensland, well you would imagine she would be a bit miffed. I think it is childish. There is a growing mood here in Queensland at the moment, I have got to say, Ally, of people who say if the doctors are saying close the borders or put in place this regime, fair enough, but there is a lot of politics being played in Queensland at the moment by the state government here in relation to this issue. You see brochures now going out into letterboxes in marginal seats and what not, and Annastacia Palaszczuk is walking a fine line here. People will be cynical if they think these decisions are being made for political reasons and her break down in the relationship with the New South Wales premier, particularly for those people who live in the Tweed or on the Gold Coast, is negatively impacting on those lives and businesses and it is unacceptable.

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    Coronavirus Australia: Victoria reports 466 new cases and 12 deaths, including second man in his 30s

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    Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says number of mystery Covid-19 cases has risen by 130 as nine new infections announced in NSW

    A man in his 30s and six aged care residents are among 12 new Victorian Covid-19 deaths that have taken Australia’s coronavirus death toll to 278.

    On Saturday, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a further 466 cases of coronavirus in the state. Andrews said the number of cases attributed to no known source had risen by 130 to 2,584.

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    Coronavirus live update Australia: Victoria reports 11 deaths and 450 new Covid cases, with 11 in NSW – latest news

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    Australian Defence Force personnel to doorknock close contacts of confirmed cases in Victoria as Western Australia delays easing of restrictions. Follow live

    McGowan describes the WA border case as “our war” with Clive Palmer.

    He says that WA is disappointed that the Commonwealth did not support their submission to have a fresh trial.

    McGowan also announces that the national cabinet today agreed on “a code of practice for the regular testing of interstate freight drivers”.

    He says that new arrangements will come into place next week which means “any truck driver entering WA will have to show evidence of having received a negative Covid-19 test result in the past seven days”.

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    Victoria records Australia’s worst day of Covid-19 with 15 deaths and 725 new cases

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    Premier Daniel Andrews confirms a man in his 30s is the youngest person to die from coronavirus in Australia

    Wednesday marked Victoria’s most devastating day of Covid-19 cases and deaths, with a man in his 30s among 15 people who died overnight including many from aged care, and 725 new cases of the virus identified.

    Three men and a woman in their 70s, three women and a man in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s were among the deaths. Twelve deaths were linked to outbreaks in aged care.

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria premier Daniel Andrews to announce more stage four restrictions as NSW reports 13 new Covid-19 cases – latest news

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    Premier to outline further details of state’s new lockdown, including business shutdowns. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

    NSW police have released information on the fines they have issued for social distance breaches:

    Police have issued a total of 16 Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) for non-compliance with Covid-19 Public Health Orders across the weekend.

    The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Council of Trade Unions – not known for being on the same side of a lot of issues – have released a joint letter calling for a paid pandemic leave scheme:

    Dear Attorney,

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