Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
British households were plunged into the Covid pandemic with lower savings, more debt and weaker welfare support than their French and German counterparts, according to analysis revealing how inequality increased the impact of the UK crisis.
High levels of income inequality also weakened the financial resilience of poorer households as the pandemic hit. The greater exposure of British households, revealed in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank to be published in full this week, comes despite similar levels of average income with our European neighbours.
Billionaire owner Gerry Harvey is resisting pressure to repay the money despite a $462m net profit for the second half of 2020
Billionaire Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey has defied political pressure to pay back an estimated $22m in jobkeeper after the retailer’s profits more than doubled during the pandemic.
The furniture, electrical and whitegoods retailer on Friday reported that first-half sales climbed 25% and contributed to a net profit after tax of $462.03m for the last six months of 2020 – up 116% on the same time period in the previous year.
Pressure mounts for Coalition to announce a permanent increase to unemployment payment; Australia closes quarantine-free border to New Zealand after coronavirus cases confirmed as UK variant. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases - or any cases in hotel quarantine.
So another zero day for NSW
Daniel Andrews:
Again, the types of cases, this UK strain, the fact that despite the amazing efforts of all of our contact traces and testers and lab workers and the work of so many genuine hard-working Victorians, we had a situation where at the same time as we are becoming aware of the primary case, they have already infected their close contacts, that is not something we’ve seen before.
The speed at which this has moved saw our public health team make the very difficult decisions based on the best of science and the best understanding you can possibly have on any outbreak, that this was a difficult but proportionate and necessary thing to do.
With less than a week to go until my big move to the city, everything is slowly falling into place. I’ve just turned 18, and I feel more and more independent, mature and ready to tackle this new life. Already I have come across many obstacles that have proved to me just how challenging life is after high school.
I sleep in the front seat with Finley, my terrier. If the jobseeker rise was permanent I think I could afford to move into a home
As told to Luke Henriques-Gomes: My name is Joey King and I am 52 years old. For nearly two years I have mostly been living in my car and on what [used to be] called Newstart, now the jobseeker payment.
When the coronavirus supplement started last April – adding an extra $550 a fortnight to my payment – it made a big difference.
Doctors’ group lashes out at Liberal MP, saying ‘all public figures’ should ‘act responsibly’; Morrison government to face pressure on jobkeeper and jobseeker. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:
Husic:
Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.
When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.
Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.
Husic:
The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.
It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.
Government is withdrawing critical support when it is most needed and has no proper plan for jobs, federal opposition says
The Morrison government faces new calls to offer targeted support to businesses in the hardest hit parts of the Australian economy as the Coalition presses ahead with cuts to emergency wage subsidies from Monday.
Labor has accused the government of withdrawing critical support from the economy at a time when Covid-19 outbreaks in New South Wales and Victoria have sparked the return of tight domestic border rules and curbs on business activities.
Embassy official dismisses ‘rage and roar’ over tweet; new WA border rules not requiring quarantine to start on 8 December; Paul Fletcher complains to ABC chair about Four Corners program. Follow latest updates
And that’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. Thanks as always for reading, we’ll be back tomorrow, with Amy Remeikis at the helm in the morning.
Here’s what happened today:
And in further weather news, severe thunderstorms are set to hit Sydney in a few minutes. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of damaging winds and large hailstones.
⚡Detailed Severe Thunderstorm Warning⚡ for DAMAGING WINDS and LARGE HAILSTONES. Forecast to affect Hornsby, Parramatta and Richmond by 7:05 pm and Sydney City, Sydney Olympic Park, Mona Vale and waters off Bondi Beach by 7:35 pm. ⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/qF3XejM6Tvpic.twitter.com/qnSGNfqZND
Some 400,000 Australians will share $112m in extra compensation, lawyers say
The Australian government has agreed to a $1.2bn settlement for a class action brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of robodebt victims.
In a deal struck the day a federal court trial was set to begin, 400,000 people will share in $112m in additional compensation, the firm running the action, Gordon Legal, announced on Monday.
Josh Frydenberg’s budget relies on tax cuts and business incentives, but rests on some optimistic assumptions. Follow all the reaction and coronavirus news
High from being retweeted and quoted by Donald Trump, who proved he had learned more about the seriousness of Covid by forcing public employees to drive him around in a sealed vehicle, and then removing his mask for a photo op, Miranda Devine continues to do Australia proud, making even a Fox News host raise an eyebrow
"It's incredibly selfish of older people or neurotic people who are timid & afraid & won't come out of their basements to confine children & young people to miss out on the most important part of their lives" - Fox News is now straight up blaming old & vulnerable people for Covid pic.twitter.com/mLhiwDHmrN
People without a specific severe impairment who want to access disability payment are being forced to first do 1.5 years of job search
Nearly 14,000 people have now been forced to do 18 months of job search and survive on $40-a-day jobseeker benefits before they were finally granted the disability pension.
Under Gillard government-era changes aimed at reducing the welfare spend and increasing workforce participation, people without a specific severe impairment who want to access the disability payment must complete up to 18 months of job search within three years.
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.
Commonwealth needs to prepare for new argument former human services minister knew scheme was unlawful, court says
A federal court trial set to decide whether robodebt victims are entitled to compensation has been delayed after fresh claims were levelled against government minister Alan Tudge.
The court heard at a pre-trial hearing on Monday that Gordon Legal plans to argue Tudge, who was human services minister in 2016-17, either knew or was “recklessly indifferent” to the fact the botched program was unlawful.
More than a third of UK 15-year-olds scored low in the annual Good Childhood Report
Children in the UK have the lowest levels of life satisfaction across Europe, with “a particularly British fear of failure” partly to blame, according to a major report into childhood happiness.
More than a third of UK 15-year-olds scored low on life satisfaction, the annual Good Childhood Report from the Children’s Society found. They also fared badly across happiness measurements including satisfaction with schools, friends and sense of purpose compared to children in other European countries.
Brisbane watches hotspots after youth detention centre outbreak, Victoria’s hotel inquiry continues and politicians gather in Canberra for the first time in 10 weeks. Follow today’s latest updates
Children’s groups call for meal provision to extend to families barred from UK state support
Thousands of children from migrant families are at risk of hunger when schools reopen in the UK unless the free meal provision is extended, according to a group of 60 organisations.
The Children’s Society, Action for Children, Project 17 and Unison are among the organisations that have written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, calling on him to extend free school meals to pupils from low-income migrant families classed as having “no recourse to public funds”.
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”.
Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, the expenditure review committee signs off on changes that will cost $15.6bn
The Morrison government has tweaked the eligibility requirements for the jobkeeper wage subsidy only three weeks after cutting the payment in an attempt to save businesses and jobs at risk because of the deteriorating outlook in Victoria.
Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, and after new Treasury analysis underscored the hit to the national economy from the second wave of coronavirus infections in Victoria, the expenditure review committee of cabinet signed off on the jobkeeper overhaul late on Thursday.
Migrants drove more than a quarter of regional Australia’s population growth before the coronavirus pandemic forced border closures, AAP reports.
Treasury’s Centre for Population officials on Tuesday told a parliamentary inquiry that overseas migration was behind 26 per cent of regional population growth nationally.
A staff member at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the organisation to close all of its sites today.
In a statement, the ASRC said it closed all its sites this morning for terminal cleans and that staff would get “appropriate leave and full pay” for those who need to get tested or self-isolate.
Given the unprecedented pandemic impacting all our lives, we have been planning for this scenario for months.
We have taken early and swift action to close down all ASRC sites to protect staff, people seeking asylum and the community.
One-size-fits-all approach for sector puts not-for-profits in jeopardy, union warns
The not-for-profit early childcare education sector is struggling to pay up to $9,000 for deep cleaning each time a Covid-19 case is identified, while federal government transition payments may not be enough to keep the sector afloat as parents pull their children out of the system.
The United Workers Union’s director for early childhood education, Helen Gibbons, said the one-size-fits-all approach towards the early childcare sector needed a rethink or the community risked losing not-for-profit childcare centres, which comprise just under half of the sector.