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National Cabinet meet as push for three dose mandate fades

Updated

That’s a wrap

Patrick Durkin

That’s it for today, thanks for joining us on another big news day. Some of the key headlines from today include:

*National Cabinet is meeting to consider advice from The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) including on whether three vaccine doses are required to enter Australia. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews appears to have backed away from a push to have a mandatory requirement as Qld’s Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today said she was “very happy with the advice of two jabs”.

* Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s attempt to impose strict independence and licensing rules on proxy advisers has been quashed by the Senate three days after coming into force. Independent Senator Rex Patrick successfully moved to disallow the Treasurer’s changes on Thursday – 29 votes to 25 – saying the whole episode “wasted taxpayers’ money and the Parliament’s time”.

* The Morrison government’s controversial religious discrimination laws were not debated in the Senate today, making their passage to become law before the election, which must be held by May, unlikely. Morrison has to reassess his options after five Liberal MPs voted with Labor and the crossbench to support amendments to ensure there is better, legal protection for transgender students in a marathon sitting overnight.

*SA Premier Steven Marshall said that from Monday new guidelines will be in place which enable offices and workplaces to have 50 per cent of workers on-site, up from the previous guidelines of 25 per cent but masks are to remain.

* WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced a $77m business support package for those industries most affected by the state’s extended border closures.

* Queensland recorded eight deaths and 5854 new COVID-19 cases as Qld Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said modelling showed the omicron wave peaked at fewer than 1000 hospitalisations and was now trending down. Both NSW and Victoria continue to show a decline in daily case numbers. The NSW daily case numbers fall from 10,312 to 10,130 today. Victoria’s daily cases fell from to 9908 to 9931. However, deaths continue to lag the peak of the omicron wave with 24 lives lost in NSW and 16 lives lost in Victoria.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/global-cases-jump-by-100m-in-just-a-month-20220210-p59v7t