Australians are furious at the Queensland Premier over her Sunday trip to Tokyo because of her "brutal" stance on stranded Australians.
More than 120,000 Australians have signed a petition calling for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to be denied the right to travel to Tokyo.
Ms Palaszczuk is flying to Tokyo on Sunday as part of the Queensland Government's push to cement hosting rights for the 2032 Olympic Games.
She says that if she does not attend the Games, "the whole bid could fail".
But a change.org petition has struck a nerve. Its author takes exception with Ms Palaszczuk's stance on placing new caps on those stranded abroad re-entering Australia.
"Annastacia Palaszczuk has successfully advocated for a brutal and heartless halving of Australian quarantine spaces, making it even more difficult for stranded Australians to return home," the petition reads.
"Annastacia Palaszczuk should not be allowed to steal a precious hotel quarantine space from a more deserving stranded Australian trying to return home."
It comes as NSW recorded 97 new infections on Friday and officials expressed "incredible concern" over the 29 people who were infectious in the community before receiving their positive test on Thursday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she won't hesitate to enforce tougher rules if cases continue to rise.
Follow along for today's Covid-19 updates. You can find Victoria's blog here and yesterday's blog here.
Veteran political journalist Paul Bongiorno has added his voice to the growing chorus of calls for NSW to introduce stricter rules.
On Friday afternoon, he tweeted that the current lockdown in NSW was "pathetic".
The NSW premier @GladysB must listen to the AMA and instigate a real lockdown and define essential businesses.
— Paul Bongiorno (@PaulBongiorno) July 16, 2021
This is as pathetic as the initial response from Donald Trump and Boris Johnson
More than 120,000 people have signed a petition calling for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to be denied an exemption to travel to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.
Ms Palaszczuk is flying to Tokyo on Sunday as part of the Queensland Government's push to cement hosting rights for the 2032 Olympic Games.
The change.org petition author takes exception with Ms Palaszczuk's stance on placing new caps on those stranded abroad re-entering Australia.
This is doing numbers. pic.twitter.com/JGmiCmXqto
— Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) July 16, 2021
"Annastacia Palaszczuk has successfully advocated for a brutal and heartless halving of Australian quarantine spaces, making it even more difficult for stranded Australians to return home," the petition reads.
"Annastacia Palaszczuk should not be allowed to steal a precious hotel quarantine space from a more deserving stranded Australian trying to return home."
Ms Palaszczuk says that if she does not attend the Games, "the whole bid could fail".
NSW Health has issued more exposure sites, including a Coles at Hurstville, a butcher at Lakemba and a Woolworths at Emu Plains.
Customers who visited Ikea at Marsden Park on Monday 12 July between midday and 7.30pm or Tuesday, 13 July between 12pm and 4pm need to get tested and isolate for two weeks.
⚠️PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT – NEW VENUES OF CONCERN⚠️
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 16, 2021
NSW Health has been notified of a number of new venues of concern attended by confirmed cases of #COVID19, as well as additional days and extended times for previously announced venues visited by cases. pic.twitter.com/GMik5UqnVy
NSW and Victoria entered their respective lockdowns in very different ways.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was very reluctant to impede on the freedoms enjoyed by Sydneysiders despite labelling the emergence of the Delta variant "the scariest time for NSW in the pandemic".
Eventually, as infections climbed, she locked down. But cases are still growing by the day.
Victoria entered a snap five-day lockdown at midnight on Thursday after 11 new cases recorded.
Speaking to the ABC's Patricia Karvelas on Friday afternoon, the SMH's state political editor said the next five days will be telling for both states' leaders.
"I think it will be diabolical for Gladys Berejiklian and the NSW Government if Victoria comes out of lockdown before us."
Dr Khorshid said the AMA "is calling for a lockdown more Victorian in style, with very clear restrictions on what people can do to limit contact between people, between families and in particular to limit contact at work".
"What we do mean by this is we mean closing retail that is not essential.
That should not be up to common sense, not up to people doing the right thing but an edict from government to close non-essential retail," he added.
"It means closing non-essential businesses, as was done during the lockdown in Victoria…These measures are needed, they are not going to have a negative economic impact on Sydney because if they are not done, the economic impact on Sydney will be extraordinary.
"It is time to take this seriously, it is time to not be hesitant, do not be worried about how this might be perceived by the community.
"Take decisive action to address this crisis in Sydney and to give Sydney the best chance of getting out of this within weeks rather than months."
The Australian comedian behind three accurate daily Covid case predictions claims he has been contacted by NSW Health and told to stop posting his “calculations” on TikTok.
Jon-Bernard Kairouz told news.com.au this afternoon that he received a rather terse call from a NSW Health representative telling him not post any more videos.
“He said we would have to cease giving out the numbers because we’re compromising the public health system,” he said.
Mr Kairouz said he told the worker he didn’t have a source at NSW Health and had been using maths to guide his predictions.
The Sydney man has for three days correctly predicted the following day’s Covid cases for NSW, leaving many to speculate he is in cahoots with someone on the inside.
– Brooke Rolfe
Scott Morrison is currently holding a press conference off the back of today's National Cabinet meeting.
The Prime Minister told reporters that yesterday was a "record day of vaccinations" across Australia.
"Some 175,000 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, that is a new record and it means in the space of just three days 500,000 doses of the vaccine had been administered across the country," he said.
"That means that already this month there have been just shy of two million vaccines, just shy of two million already in the month of July.
"And each month we are seeing the rate of vaccinations increase as we move towards our goal of ensuring that by the end of the year that we can have everyone who is seeking to have a vaccination to have one."
Four teachers at Bacchus March Grammar school have now tested positive to Covid-19.
Speaking to ABC Radio, the school's principal Andrew Neal said all four staff members were teaching at the school's Maddingley campus on Tuesday, July 13 and Wednesday, July 14.
More than 2000 students attend the campus – some of who were in direct contact with the teachers.
The school is awaiting further advice from the Victorian Health Department.
Outspoken former boxer Anthony Mundine has copped a $1000 fine for breaking Covid rules, while police investigate a second potential breach.
The high-profile Sydney resident was handed the fine after flying to Ballina on July 7, despite the citywide lockdown.
“Officers from Richmond Police District issued a 46-year-old man with a $1000 Penalty Infringement Notice after inquiries revealed he travelled from metropolitan Sydney to Ballina without a reasonable excuse on Wednesday 7 July 2021,” NSW Police said in a statement.
Police are also investigating a second alleged breach after Mundine went to Yamba, in northern NSW.
On July 14 officers launched an inquiry following reports Mundine visited a licenced premises in the regional town, police said.
Travel outside of Sydney, where Mr Mundine lives, is banned under the strict lockdown measures unless people have an exemption.
Mr Mundine has made misleading comments about the pandemic recently, while being outspoken about his anti-vaxxer views.
– Additional reporting NCA NewsWire
Off the back of his statement, AMA President Omar Khorshid is holding a press conference from Perth.
Asked how long Greater Sydney's lockdown will last if the NSW Government doesn't take further action soon, Dr Khorshid said the city "is looking at the lockdown continuing indefinitely".
"If we don't see a drop in numbers the lockdown cannot simply be withdrawn and Sydneysiders are looking at extreme restrictions for the foreseeable future until everyone is vaccinated," he told reporters.
"Of course, we don't have enough vaccines to vaccinate the whole of Sydney communities so the only option is to get on top of this virus right now."
Another wave of Covid-19 is surging across one Aussie state, with authorities urging residents to have a new booster jab.
The apology follows a major report into Australia’s response to the pandemic that found trust in vaccination programs has declined.
Australia’s health minister is issuing a grim warning about the country’s ability to weather another pandemic.
Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/live-breaking-news/live-coverage/c25be691bb60c46b9a0386e14fedd86f