Labor’s signature climate change legislation will pass the Senate with some minor changes
Delayed rate pain
While the interest rate increases are hitting those already on variable rates, those who are on fixed rates which are about to expire are going to feel a lot of pain, when their repayments jump to include the cumulative increase all at once.
Continue reading...Offices, schools and shops to close before congress at which Xi expected to get third presidential term
China has intensified its efforts to rein in outbreaks of Covid-19 ahead of a major political meeting by placing about 65 million people under semi-lockdown, according to local media reports.
The Chinese Communist party will begin its 20th congress on 16 October, with party chief Xi Jinping widely expected to be reinstated as president for a third term.
Continue reading...Government was made aware of Esta’s vulnerable financial position as long ago as 2015
The Victorian government was warned of the “precarious financial position” at the state’s triple-zero call-taking agency about six years before Covid-19 overwhelmed the service and caused delays linked to 33 deaths.
A report by Victoria’s inspector general for emergency management (Igem), Tony Pearce, released on Saturday, identified 40 “potential adverse events” linked to triple-zero delays, lengthy ambulance waits and command decisions at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (Esta) between December 2020 and May 2022.
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Continue reading...More than 80% of the country’s Covid deaths occurred in 2022, likely in part due to success of early control measures but questions remain
Behind the daily death figures, there is a more complicated picture of the impact of Covid-19 in Australia that raises questions about whether Covid could be causing more deaths from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and dementia.
As cases exploded after the emergence of the Omicron variant, the number of Covid deaths similarly rose, with more than 80% of Australia’s total Covid deaths occurring in 2022.
Continue reading...NHS launches autumn drive with jabs offered first to care home staff and residents, and housebound people
Millions of care home residents, staff and housebound people in England will be invited for their autumn coronavirus vaccine booster from Monday.
Health teams will visit care homes and private homes to vaccinate about 1.6 million residents, staff and housebound people in the latest phase of the vaccine programme, NHS England has said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Despite ‘Global Britain’ rhetoric, Brexit opportunities minister refused to sign off budget to revive pandemic-hit industry
Jacob Rees-Mogg is blocking a major government-backed tourism campaign – despite being a vocal advocate of “Global Britain”.
The planned advertising blitz is aimed at bringing back tourists from key international markets including India, China, Australia, Japan and Canada to boost visitor numbers in the wake of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Authorities impose sweeping restrictions as China holds fast to zero-Covid policy
About 21 million people in the Chinese city of Chengdu have gone into lockdown as authorities raced to snuff out a new Covid-19 outbreak.
China is the last major economy wedded to a zero-Covid policy, stamping out virus flare-ups with snap shutdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.
Continue reading...State government cites falling Covid case numbers and the end of winter as it announces decision
The Victorian government has lifted its recommendation that people work from home but has vowed to maintain its public transport mask mandate, despite the requirement due to be dropped on domestic flights from next week.
Citing falling Covid case numbers and the end of winter, the state’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, said Victorians were now encouraged to cease working from home.
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Continue reading...The first day of the jobs and skills summit is under way in Canberra. This blog is now closed
Every Australian ‘holds a stake’ in outcome of jobs and skills summit, PM says
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, finishes his opening address at the jobs and skills summit on a note of wanting to promote unity. He says:
Australians have conflict fatigue.
Every Australian holds a stake in the outcome of our discussion.
The work of building a stronger economy should include everyone, should lift everyone up.
Continue reading...For every 100 Covid-related death in Australia, around 13 young people lost one or both of their parents, ANU study finds
Nearly 2,000 Australian children have lost a parent to Covid-19 during the pandemic, according to new data.
A global study by the Australian National University (ANU), based on 2021 data, has estimated that for every 100 Covid-related death in Australia, around 13 young people lost one or both of their parents.
Continue reading...Chief medical officers said the wave of Omicron variants was ‘subsiding’, although ‘further surges are likely’
The UK’s Covid-19 alert level has been downgraded to level 2, meaning the virus is in “general circulation” but healthcare pressures and transmission are “declining or stable”.
The chief medical officers of the UK nations and the national medical director of the NHS in England have jointly recommended that the Covid alert level be moved down from level 3 amid falling cases. They said the Covid-19 wave of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 was “subsiding”.
Continue reading...Vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech approved as US prepares for vaccination campaign in fall
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized retooled Covid-19 booster shots made by both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech to target the currently dominant BA.4/BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus.
Both vaccines also include the original version of the virus targeted by all previous Covid shots as the US prepares for another vaccination campaign in the fall.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese will meet with premiers and chief ministers today for the national cabinet in Sydney
Jobs summit should support apprenticeships in female-dominated trades, independents say
Independents are calling for more investment in female-dominated trades like textiles and floristry ahead of the government’s jobs and skills summit to be held tomorrow.
This jobs summit must not become fixated on getting only the high-vis industries out to work and leave the pink workforce at home yet again … We have women who want to work. We must enable them.
There’s been too narrow a view of what are the apprenticeships and trades, it’s been a very bloke-centric approach.
Continue reading...High-speed rail firm blames departure from EU and Covid for decision to halt service next summer
Eurostar has decided to stop direct services from London to Disneyland Paris from next summer, citing the fallout from Brexit and Covid.
The high-speed train operator said on Tuesday it was scrapping trains running from the British capital to the Disneyland site in Marne-la-Vallée, in the eastern Paris suburbs.
Continue reading...Independent calls for PM to ‘protect’ potential Icac from government interference
The independent MP Helen Haines, has called on the prime minister to “protect” a potential federal Icac from any future government interference.
We need more detail around how it will be funded to make sure, in subsequent governments, that the powers of this commission can’t be eroded away. And we need to make sure that the broad definition of corruption can really capture anyone who attempts to improperly influence government decisions.
The other part of it that I haven’t seen, and I would like to see, is what the government plans to do to encourage a pro-integrity culture. And I haven’t seen anything about that thus far.
Continue reading...A dispute over who should fund the free kits will leave test sites or insurance reimbursement as the available options
The US government is suspending its program of free home tests for Covid-19 this week amid disagreements over who should pay for the initiative.
The free home tests, which have provided up to 16 tests for each household, are scheduled to come to a halt on Friday. In the future, people requiring tests for work or travel, or wanting to confirm whether they have the illness, will need to claim the costs of a home test on health insurance or seek results through federally backed testing sites.
Continue reading...The PM says his government made the decision in 2019 ‘that we would stand by that legislation rather than re-litigate it’. Follow all the day’s news
Pocock pushes for scrapping of stage-three tax cuts
Independent senator David Pocock was on RN speaking about the stage-three tax cuts, which he says should be “resisted” – no matter what was promised before the election.
What I’ve said is that they should be revisited … [Anthony Albanese] has a really strong case to relook at these these tax cuts and see what what else that could actually be spent on, given the you know the huge amount of money that they represent.
Things have changed a lot since these were where they decided. We’ve had bushfires, a global pandemic. We’ve had flooding and stagnant wages, and now people are in a cost-of-living crisis across the country. And so I just don’t think that we can justify handing out $240bn over the next 10 years to the wealthiest Australians.
Ultimately, when we hit the budget in October – which is where these issues get reviewed every year – when you look at the budget, there will be things that we want to do that we can’t do. And that’s the reality of a trillion dollars of Liberal debt, particularly as inflation goes up. That debt now costs a lot more than it costs even a year ago.
So there will be things that that we would want to do that people would like us to do that aren’t going to be possible as an example. It’s basically saying, ‘Yeah, this is just too too expensive.’
We’re only in the second month of that new system. A lot of it was designed before we came to office and the contracts had all been signed before we came into office. So I’m still very mindful of what we can do. But the the challenges of the people who are in the system right now are exactly as you’ve described.
I think to live on $46 a day is incredibly difficult if not impossible.
Continue reading...When Covid struck and BAME patients died disproportionately, students of heath inequalities were not surprised
As the first Covid wave hit, it quickly became clear that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds were dying in disproportionate numbers.
The immediacy and visibility of these deaths was shocking and revealed a disparity so clear-cut that some wondered if the explanation could be genetic. But those who have spent a lifetime studying health inequalities were less surprised. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds do worse across a wide range of health outcomes.
Continue reading...Independent senator David Pocock says circumstances have changed ‘so much’ since stage three tax cuts policy was legislated. This blog is now closed
McManus: normal part of bargaining to have industrial action as a last resort
McManus is asked if she wants workers in specific business to regain the right to strike in support of workers in other business (otherwise known as sympathy strikes or solidarity action).
Not in support of workers in another business – together. It is a normal part of bargaining to have … as a last resort, to take industrial action, and that is what happens in countries that have multi-employer bargaining, and there [are] not more strikes, there is more pay rises.
Essentially when workers have an option to do that, obviously it means the option to have a better outcome, and a better outcome more quickly.
Basically, workers’ bargaining power has been smashed over that period of time That’s why we have a problem, a huge problem, with wages growth and unless we address that issue, that is not going to change.
We think [sector-wide bargaining] should be open to all, but obviously a lot of places … they are getting pay rises at the moment. They can access the bargaining system.
Continue reading...Chongqing authorities criticised for move as area faces heatwave, wildfires, severe drought and power outages
Residents of the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing have been queueing on the streets to be tested for Covid, despite extreme temperatures that have soared past 40C (104F) this week.
Photos posted on Chinese social media also showed health workers testing residents while wearing full hazmat suits in the heatwave. Other images showed that the tests were being carried out while bushfires raged in the background, prompting descriptions of the situation as “apocalyptic”.
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