Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
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.
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.
Inevitable Berejiklian is now being grill over Victoria’s sucsess which many are viewing as proof that NSW’s lockdown was too little, too late.
Victoria is now coming out of lockdown. Have they now shown us up? Should we have gone down harder and faster? They’ve done two weeks, we’re here in week five, and with no sign of things slowing down.
Oh look, I think it’s important to note that every state has had its own course during the pandemic.
Victoria is emerging out of its fifth lockdown, and I appreciate appreciate people want to make comparisons, but it’s also important to note that every state has had its own course. Every state has its own history of how they’re built with the pandemic.
Melbourne: schools, restaurants and bars open. Sydney: 172 cases. Highest case number since the borders were shut and edging towards the 200 record.
We are waiting on an update from South Australia now, but in the meantime, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has released an ad campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated. It features artists such as Tim Minchin, Rhonda Burchmore and performers from the Australian Ballet.
NSW Health has confirmed that the woman found dead in Green Valley was a confirmed Covid-19 case.
It said in a statement:
NSW Health today sadly reports the death of a woman in her 50s who was a confirmed Covid-19 case. She was a resident of south-western Sydney and a close contact of a Covid case.
This is the 61st death in NSW related to Covid-19 and the fifth of the current outbreak.
An $11m grant announced to pay for leave for aged care staff to be vaccinated; Darwin in lockdown after four cases; restrictions for WA and SA; Queensland makes masks mandatory in hotspots. Follow live
Here’s a brief summary of the key things Scott Morrison announced:
Another decision out of national cabinet is an agreement to make it mandatory for all quarantine workers, including those working in transport, to be vaccinated. However, this will be the responsibility of the states and territories, not the commonwealth.
This announcement follows the case of a Sydney limousine driver transporting international air crews contracting Covid-19 while being unvaccinated, NSW police admitting this breached no public health orders.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt released from hospital after leg infection
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has been moved out of intensive care and on to a hospital ward after breaking a bone in his back and several ribs when he slipped on wet stairs earlier this week.
Also on Saturday, the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, was released from hospital after a leg infection.
Former sex discrimination commissioner Pru Goward is asked about Brittany Higgins’s statement on Afternoon Briefing:
I think we have two start by accepting her position on everything.
It happened to her, she is the aggrieved party and she is entitled absolutely to that view, and I think we have seen a lot of victim blaming in history, and people need to be very careful the way that they choose their words.
Malcolm Turnbull spoke in support of Brittany Higgins this morning.
Australian National Audit Office launches inquiry into pandemic border policies, including biosecurity and the adequacy of assistance to those stranded overseas
Australia’s international border policies including the outbound travel ban and inbound arrival caps will be examined by the Australian National Audit Office.
After first proposing the audit in September, the ANAO quietly activated the inquiry in mid-January and has called for submissions on the management of the Australian border to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Citizens stuck overseas say the idea of making them list their ‘tragedies’ to be ranked is ‘unspeakable’
The Victorian premier, battling an outbreak of the UK variant of coronavirus, has flagged slashing the number of Australians able to return home, suggesting travellers could only be allowed to enter the country on “compassionate grounds”.
The proposal sparked a furious reaction from citizens stuck overseas, who said the proposal was “unspeakable” because it would lead to people’s misfortunes being compared.
Victoria will enter a snap five-day coronavirus lockdown from Saturday in an attempt to halt the spread of a UK variant outbreak in response to its hyper-infectivity. Premier Dan Andrews made the announcement that will see the entire state return to stage 4 restrictions where Victorians are only able to leave their homes for four permitted reasons: shopping for essential items, essential work, exercise for two hours a day, or caregiving for compassionate reasons. Masks will be compulsory in all settings outside the home, all private gatherings are barred and a 5km ban on movement has been reintroduced
Victoria will enter a “circuit-breaker” five-day lockdown from Saturday in an attempt to “prevent a third wave”, Daniel Andrews has announced.
The premier said on Friday afternoon the government would impose a snap lockdown from midnight because the “hyper-infectivity” and speed of a UK variant outbreak had created a “very real challenge”.
Limits on gatherings lift and masks no longer required while shopping in Sydney as Victoria set to ease travel restrictions with NSW. Follow updates live
The bill has widespread support from industry groups, the Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Medical Association. It does not, unsurprisingly, have the support of the federal government.
The government – especially the minister – is with respect at the moment playing politics with our future. They are not interested in listening to the business community, industry, science, our medical professionals, on what needs to be done with urgency. They are instead focusing on political gains and delaying what needs to be done.
We have more jobs in renewable and future-proof industries than in the industries that are transitioning. We know a jobs disruption is coming. Proper government means we prepare communities. We don’t put our head in the sand and hope it will go away.
Seventy per cent of our two-way trade with countries is now under net zero by2050 goals. Australia is being left behind. We need the government to step up and do this. As to prices, it’s simply incorrect. The lowest prices are from renewables. It’s not from delaying our transition.
I think the world will eventually sign up to a target of net zero by 2050 and the Morrison government needs to do that and will do that. The question is how long are they going to drag it out, and how much will the delay cost us? On our current trajectory of where we’re going, we’re on target for $100bn per year of climate impact costs. That’s an incredibly steep price to pay for inaction.
There’s so much upside for us to take action, we’re the continent with the most resources that can absolutely be at the front of this boom. We can be a renewable energy superpower, we just need the government to look to where the economic opportunities are.
I had constructive discussions with the previous Labor shadow minister, and Mark Butler, and now I look forward to having discussions with Chris Bowen.
Western Australia is expanding its mandatory contact tracing registers, about two months after first introducing the QR code system for higher risk venues.
From 12 February, retail venues, commercial buses (including tour buses and party buses – side note I can’t believe WA currently has party buses), visitors at public and private hospitals, takeaway food and beverage services, and events of more than 500 people with a Covid-safe plan will have to use the WA government’s official SafeWA QR code system.
While WA remains free of community transmission, we continue to learn from what’s occurring over east and overseas. With variant strains becoming more prevalent, we need to bolster our processes in case contact tracing is required by our WA health and response teams.
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.
Melbourne lockdown lifted as Victoria records two Covid cases and two deaths. Senate estimates looks at Australia’s response to Doha airport incident. Follow live
Students at the University of Sydney have occupied a building on campus that houses the vice-chancellor’s office, in a protest against cuts to staff in medical sciences.
Approximately 50 students are in the building right now, chanting and asking for the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, to meet with them.
USyd students are currently occupying the universities administration building, where senior management, including Michael Spence, have their offices. Students are refusing to leave until the university commit to reversing all staff and course cuts. #Auspolpic.twitter.com/dnEBFPXg7l
Daniel Andrews has released a statement on the Melbourne Cup:
I have today advised the Victoria Racing Club that connections of horses competing at the Melbourne Cup Carnival will not be permitted to attend the course.
The government has determined that next week is not a suitable time for gatherings of that nature.*
Daniel Andrews is asked if he would have done anything different in hindsight:
I don’t have hindsight. None of us do.
All we have his hard work and an absolute determination do not listen to the loudest voices, not be pushed to ignore the science, not listen to those who would appeal for us to act out of absolute frustration and nothing more than that.