Rolling coverage: 116 new cases, 15 deaths in Victoria
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien says he will oppose the bill to extend Victoria’s state of emergency, with Premier Daniel Andrews’ move described as “an arrogant ambush” by a senior Liberal. The change could see strict coronavirus rules last until September 2021.
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Coronavirus restrictions across Victoria could last another 12 months as the Premier moves to extend the state of emergency by another 12 months.
But MPs are already working to block the extraordinary legislation change.
It comes after the state recorded 116 new infections on Monday, its lowest daily total in almost six weeks.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the current state of emergency in Victoria expired on September 13, but he intended to introduce a bill to parliament to extend that until at least September 2021.
Currently, the state of emergency can be in place for six months under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act.
The state of emergency allows regulations including stay-at-home directions and face-covering laws to operate.
Legislation will be introduced next week.
“An Act of the Victorian parliament provides for a maximum of six months for the running of that state of emergency,” he said.
“That is the legal instrument that allows the government to enforce rules about face masks, about COVID safe work plans in workplaces large and small, density limits in pubs and cafes and restaurants, requiring positive people to isolate at home.
“We simply can‘t have those important roles in the legal framework that sits behind them end on 13 September.
“We will extend the state of emergency provisions within the public health and wellbeing act for a maximum of a 12 months. So that means it will be a total of 18 months.”
Since being introduced in March, the state of emergency has been extended six times, but can be in place no longer than six months.
“Without a vaccine, this pandemic is far from over,” Mr Andrews said.
“These legislative changes will mean we continue to have the right protections in place until it is.”
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said he would oppose the bill.
“Victorians don’t deserve to be locked up in their homes for another 12 months. We don’t deserve to be locked away from our jobs, away from our businesses for another year,” he said.
“Victorians deserve democracy, they deserve accountability, they deserve transparency.”
Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick is urging the Liberal Party and members of the cross bench to block the proposed extension of the state of emergency announced by Daniel Andrews this morning.
Mr Limbrick said he and his colleague Tim Quilty would be working this week to test the numbers of the upper house to try and block the legislation.
“The Victorian Government has had six months to come up with solutions that are compatible with a liberal democracy and their time is up,” Mr Limbrick said.
“They seem to be insulated from the real world and have no idea about the harm they have caused and are continuing to cause.
“Victorians can be trusted to take sensible precautions without being treated like criminals. This pandemic can be managed by voluntary action.
“My office has been inundated with a grassroots movement of regular people who are not going to stand for this anymore.”
Institute of Public Affairs directory of policy Gideon Rozner said the state of emergency powers should not be extended.
“Daniel Andrews has used emergency powers to put Victorians through the most stringent, cruel and ultimately unsuccessful lockdown measures anywhere in Victoria. He simply cannot be trusted with these powers indefinitely,” Mr Rozner said.
“Daniel Andrews must take his hands off our democracy. It is even more important than usual at an extraordinary time like this that politicians are transparent and accountable to Victorians via the parliament.
“A long-term extension to the state of emergency means long term unemployment, misery, and loss of basic freedoms and rights.”
And Liberals Upper House leader David Davis has called on the government to immediately release an exposure draft of the legislation.
Mr Davis said Monday’s announcement was an “arrogant ambush” aimed at dodging proper scrutiny by parliament, business groups and the community.
“Normally a bill would be brought to parliament and adjourned for two weeks to enable MPSs, the community, businesses and other groups to examine the proposed bill and make comments and improvements. Let’s start with the process,” Mr Davis said.
“They’ve had many months to develop this legislation and the community should see the exposure draft today.
“It is an arrogant ambush and it’s driven by a premier who loves secrecy and pushing people to take his road without discussion.”
NEW CASES DROP AT STAGE FOUR HALFWAY POINT
Monday saw the lowest daily increase since July 5, which saw 74 new cases before spiking to 127 the following day.
The drop in cases comes the day after Victorians passed the halfway point of the state’s six-week lockdown.
But tragically, 15 more people have died — all linked to aged-care outbreaks.
The victims include three women and five men in their 80s, four women and two men in their 90s, and one woman in her 100s.
In total, 629 Victorians are in hospital, including 31 in ICU and 17 on ventilators.
Currently, there are 3701 active cases across the state, including 232 in regional Victoria, 406 healthcare workers and 57 in disability facilities.
There are also 100 new mystery cases.
Ambulance Victoria has confirmed almost 50 staff are currently off work due to COVID-19.
This includes six paramedics who are recovering from the virus after testing positive.
A further 40 paramedics are at home for reasons including being a close contact of someone who has tested positive, awaiting test results, carers leave and other illnesses.
The organisation reassured Victorians that with 4500 paramedics and 1200 first responders, they were well prepared and urged anyone in need of an ambulance to call triple-0.
Since the start of the pandemic in January, 24 Ambulance Victoria paramedics have tested positive to COVID-19.
LATEST RULE-BREAKERS COP FINES
A group who were drinking in a garage on the Mornington Peninsula are among the 197 people fined for breaching coronavirus rules in the past 24.
Of the fines, 31 were for not wearing a mask, 66 were for curfew breaches and 20 were handed out at vehicle checkpoints.
The latest rulebreakers include:
•Two men and two women in the garage eating and drinking in a garage in the Mornington Peninsula. Three of the people did not reside at the address.
• Two women at Dandenong train station who said they had travelled from Hastings to Dandenong on the bus and were planning to travel to Drouin — a further 67km away. They told police they knew what they were doing was wrong but decided to travel anyway.
• Several people located at train stations throughout metropolitan Melbourne during curfew hours without valid reasons for travel.
NEW COVID DASHBOARD TO MAP CASES OUT
A new DHHS dashboard is promised to make more COVID-19 information available to Victorians for the first time.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said it would include details on outbreaks, hospitalisations and high-risk locations.
“As we go on the journey in the coming weeks to start to lift some of those restrictions, this information will be critically important,” she said.
“People will be able to see in their local area, whether there has been an exposure in a particular location from a known case, a confirmed case in the community … For example, people will be able to search and see if a known case has been in the local shopping centre, local cafe, workplace or another location.
“That means people can be armed with that information in terms of making an assessment themselves about any exposures they might have had visiting that same location on that day, and at that time.”
CHANGE TO FUNERAL RULES FOR BABIES
The infant son of a Kilsyth electrician who died at work will not be counted as one of the 10 people allowed at his funeral, Mr Andrews said.
Jarrod Fox, 37, was electrocuted while he worked underneath a home in Ringwood’s Kalinda Rd on Tuesday, August 18.
His fiance Charmaine gave birth to their second child, Jasper, five weeks ago — a brother for two-year-old son Archer.
A funeral for Mr Fox will be held in Lilydale for 10 family members and live-streamed on Friday, followed by a bigger memorial service once coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
“When it comes to the calculation of the 10 mourners for the funeral this Friday, the five-week-old baby, who is a dependent, will not be counted as part of the 10,” Mr Andrews said.
“And we will have some more to say about trying to broaden that rule out for all funerals for babies under one year.
“Just for that family, I know it is some small comfort at a really, really tough time.”
INTERSTATE AFL GRAND FINAL ‘HURTS’
Mr Andrews said hosting the AFL Grand Final interstate “hurts”, but declined to name which state he preferred to host the match.
“For the sake of one event as important, as religious almost as it is, the notion that you would take a holiday from the coronavirus for the day so we could have the Grand Final for a day and a dose of normal, that doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
“That would only spread the virus. It hurts, but not as much as potentially spreading the virus more.
“That is not on the table. The AFL will have more to say about this during the week.”
The AFL remains confident that COVID-19 numbers are stable enough to risk a pre-finals bye ahead of a decision on finals structure and the Grand Final venue in the next week.
The league will accept a Queensland submission on the Grand Final on Tuesday after the Western Australian government put forward its case on Friday.
It will then make a decision on whether the Gabba wins the battle over Optus Stadium as West Coast and Port Adelaide push to host home finals in their own states in the first weeks of the finals.
NO HUGS ALLOWED AMID VIRUS SPREAD FEARS
Australians are being warned to not hug people outside their household amid fears entrenched social habits are helping spread the virus.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on Sunday revealed people were not doing basic things that could ease the spread like “not washing your hands that one time, forgetting your mask, not wearing it properly, and hugging someone who’s outside your household”.
“Essentially the transmission that’s still occurring is sometimes because people have forgotten those really basic but very essential elements,” he said.
“These are simple but also easy to forget.”
His reminder to avoid hugs and handshakes has been backed by federal Chief Nursing Officer Alison McMillan, who said no one should be hugging people outside their immediate family or people they live with until the pandemic was over.
Instead, she urged Australians to be creative with how they show their love and say hello to people during the pandemic.
“When it comes to hugs, I encourage you to if you are within your family unit with people you live with, your children or your loved ones, of course, they live with you, you can hug,” Ms McMillan said on Sunday.
“But when it comes to the broader community and hugging others outside of your family unit then no.
“Handshakes are something we should avoid at this point in time,” Ms McMillan said.
Friends Winnie Laing, 18, and Zarah Coxhell, 17, caught up in South Melbourne yesterday and said they were having to adapt their greetings.
The two year 12 students said it was hard not being able to have physical contact with friends.
“Especially when you haven’t seen a friend in a long time you just want to hug them I guess,” Winnie said.
She said people were taking it seriously, sticking to social distancing measures.
Zarah said waving at each other had replaced hugs and handshakes.
It follows the World Health Organisation reissuing guidelines on children wearing masks on Friday, with the new guidance recommending any child over the aged 12 and should be taking the precaution.
While children aged six to 11 should wear masks if there is high potential risk of infection and they are able do so.
This matches the current rule in Victoria where mask wearing for children under the age of 12 is up to the parent and not recommended for toddlers due to safety.
The changing international recommendation was issued as Victoria reached a grim new record of 415 deaths – with and additional 17 people dead overnight.
Of the new losses 11 were linked to aged care, however, Prof Sutton said he was hopeful the death rate had “plateaued” and would continue to decrease along with new cases.
“The numbers are bouncing around a bit, but we’re not going to 300 and 400 again in Victoria, not under my watch at least.
“It would be great to see numbers going down even further,” he said.
At last count there were 585 Victorians in hospital, 32 in intensive care, and 21 on ventilators.
Meanwhile, Premier Daniel Andrews revealed although the daily case numbers had risen slightly to 208, the state was on track according to the lockdown modelling.
“We are half way and the strategy is working,” he said.
“But if we start opening up before we have defeated this second wave then we will just be in the beginnings of a third wave.
He said the coming weeks would be challenging for many Victorians but warned a “few bad decisions” could see the recovery derailed.
Meanwhile, the much-anticipated location of where the AFL Grand Final is to be held will be revealed later this week with Mr Andrews flagging an imminent announcement.
At last count the state had 4012 active cases.
In total there have been 3920 mystery cases – and additional 82 – and the number of infected health workers dropped to 536.
— Alex White and Josh Fagan
REGULATOR’S AGED CARE VISITS LOW BEFORE OUTBREAKS
Fewer than one in 10 Victorian nursing homes were subject to unannounced site visits by the federal regulator between March and August before specific PPE spot checks started this month.
Of Victoria’s 766 aged care homes, just 63 were audited in unannounced site visits by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission in the five months to August 14.
Over the past month the Commission has also introduced unannounced spot checks on PPE use and infection control arrangements in Victorian and NSW residential aged care services.
Since August 3, 74 nursing homes have been visited and a host of serious issues with protective equipment, inadequate infection control signage and poor hand hygiene practice have been uncovered.
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said officials used an infection control checklist when at facilities.
“This includes a series of questions regarding the storage, use and disposal of personal protective equipment by residential aged care staff,” Ms Anderson said.
A News Corp investigation has also found more than half of aged care residents are in homes with one and two star staffing levels, an international standard that is so low it is unacceptable.
The industry was on the brink of collapse without at least $3.5 billion a year extra in government funding, according to Aged care expert Professor John Pollaers who was the inaugural head of the federal Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce in 2017.
The Federal Government has increased its funding by a paltry $5.61 a day per resident since 2016.
Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck, the federal Department of Health and Scott Morrison have come under increasing scrutiny for his handling of the pandemic in aged care facilities.
Last week at a federal committee hearing Mr Colbeck could not recall how many aged care residents had died from COVID-19.
Opposition ageing spokeswoman Julie Collins slammed Mr Colbeck’s appearance at the committee, calling it “completely inadequate and frankly embarrassing”.
“We’ve seen the government behind the eight ball and the Minister and his Department behind the eight ball every step of the way,” Ms Collins said.
Despite the worrying figures, Premier Daniel Andrews said the situation within aged care facilities was becoming more hopeful with 1616 active cases in the sector.
“I would say in trend terms there is some stability that has come to this,” Mr Andrews said.
“A couple of weeks ago we had many more settings that were in absolute crisis.”
He also said it was a group effort with “all governments have been working together to ensure the welfare of residents”.
So far, between 700 and 800 residents have been moved to alternative care settings, while nurses and healthcare workers have fulfilled 2400 shifts.
The biggest outbreak has been at Epping Gardens Aged Care with 210 cases, St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner has 193, Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer 158 and Baptcare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee has 156.
More than 700 residents have been transferred to public and private hospitals during the pandemic.
— Janet Fife-Yeomens
WHY YOU COULD BE WORKING AT HOME LONGER
Working from home could be here to stay and offices could get smaller as business leaders rethink everything about the way we do business following coronavirus changes.
A new report by Deloitte found two-thirds of chief financial officers from major Australian companies have changed their mind about physical proximity being important to getting certain types of work done.
Researchers found it was unclear whether the COVID-necessitated working from home was a temporary step of an accelerated trend.
“Some pre-existing barriers and misconceptions have been overcome in working from home,” the report read.
“While there’s been a large uptake of flexible working arrangements, and many of which may stick after the crisis, CFOs aren’t keen to completely abandon the office.
“None said their business planned to make employees work from home full time, once social distancing restrictions ease.”
Most commonly, employers expected their organisation would allow employees to decide their own home-workplace split.
Talia Thornton, who is a senior retail marketing co-ordinator for fashion brand Forever New, is one of the thousands of Melburnians working from home due to COVID-19.
The Richmond woman said that she would like to see more workplaces adapt to flexible working arrangements post-pandemic.
“It’s been good in terms of work-life balance because it means you can put the washing on or have something baking in the oven while you’re at work, but then the lack of contact with people is a bit tough,” she said.
“Forever New has been very good when it comes making sure we’re all OK and checking in. “We have a video call every morning and that definitely helps, but I do miss seeing people’s faces in the office.
“When things start returning to normal, it would be great to return to work in the office but also work from home a few days a week.”
Deloitte partner Stephen Gustafson said more than half of the financial leaders surveyed were also looking at decreasing their office footprint or repurposing spaces.
“All those surveyed are keen to return to the office, at least in some capacity, but over 40% expect their employees will be given more freedom of choice about how much of their work they do from home beyond COVID,” Mr Gustafson said.
The biannual survey covering the six months to June also found chief financial officers put cyber risks, navigating uncertainty, accelerated transformation and cutting costs were their most pressing issues.
– Sharon McGowan
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