As it happened: NSW records two new local COVID-19 cases, restrictions across Greater Sydney; Barnaby Joyce elected National Party leader

Good evening and thank you for joining us on a busy national news day. I’m Natassia Chrysanthos signing off the blog. Here’s what you may have missed:

• Barnaby Joyce has been re-elected leader of the Nationals in a tumultuous party spill that restores him to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. Mr Joyce has returned to the role three years after he resigned following sexual assault allegations, and revelations that he was in a relationship with one of his staffers.

  The outcome is likely to harden the party’s position against further action on climate change out of concern in the party room that the Nationals were not pushing strongly against Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s talk of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

• Scott Morrison’s office spent weeks planning a G7 side trip to explore his convict family roots while the Prime Minister publicly argued Britain was too risky for Australian travellers. Last Sunday’s pilgrimage to St Keverne, a small village 45 minutes south of the G7 summit site in Cornwall, was never disclosed to the media despite being on the schedule for at least a fortnight.

• NSW recorded two new local COVID-19 cases overnight, both linked to existing cases, as the group of cases known as the “Bondi cluster” grows to 11. The two new cases, which will be recorded in tomorrow’s numbers, were a woman in her 50s from Sydney’s northern suburbs and a man in his 30s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

• Victoria reported one new local case in a primary close contact of people connected to the Kings Park apartment complex in Southbank.

• And federal health officials say they will increase the availability of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after the decision to recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged over 60. Authorities expect 500 Australian GPs to be administering the Pfizer vaccine in the week of July 5, with another 500 GPs to come online the week after.

Have a lovely evening. We will be back with you tomorrow morning.

Wellington: Victoria’s travel bubble with New Zealand will resume from midnight Tuesday after the Ministry of Health decided the remaining public health risk to be low.

In a statement, the ministry said the pause would be lifted at 11.59pm (New Zealand time) on Tuesday, and travellers would no longer be required to have a pre-departure test, or spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival.

New Zealand first paused the bubble in late May following an outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne. Last week, the New Zealand government indicated the bubble would be resumed due to the decreasing risk to public health in New Zealand.

Travelers at Auckland International Airport.Credit: Brendon O’Hagan/Bloomberg

In the statement on Monday, the ministry said all travellers were encouraged to continue monitoring for symptoms and checking the Victorian Health website for any updated locations of interest.

“Those in New Zealand who have recently been in Victoria, NSW or Queensland are advised to get tested if they develop symptoms.”

Anyone in New Zealand who has been at any of the current locations of interest or newly identified locations of interest in Victoria, NSW or Queensland in the last 14 days at the specified times should continue to self-isolate and contact Healthline for advice on testing, the ministry said.

Individuals in Australia who were at any of the locations of interest in Victoria, NSW or Queensland at the specified times are asked to follow the health advice in the relevant state regarding isolation and testing. They must not travel to New Zealand within 14 days of exposure, the ministry said.

Sydney’s latest COVID-19 cluster grew to 11 today and keeping track of coronavirus exposure sites as they’re listed can be difficult. You can use the interactive map below - created by Mark Stehle and Richard Lama - to explore where the sites of concern are around NSW.

We’ll be updating this map regularly but, as always, you can check the official list at the NSW government’s official website here.

Note: if you’re using the search function to search by postcode it will only give you a result if there is an exposure site in that postcode. Also public transport alerts are listed under the link at the top and do not feature on the map.

The Victorian government is unlikely to follow Western Australia’s lead and draft tightened privacy laws that can prevent police accessing data from QR code check-ins.

Under current regulations, police must request a warrant via the state’s courts if they believe check-in data will help investigate a “serious indictable offence”.

Nonetheless, we reported earlier today that police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton revealed Victoria Police made three “informal” approaches to government departments to access check-in data in December.

Acting Police and Emergency Services Danny Pearson, when asked by Nationals MP Danny O’Brien if Victoria needed stronger privacy safeguards, said he had confidence in the court system.

He gave the hypothetical example of police wanting check-in data to further scrutinise a suspected terrorist attack.

“I think the idea of introducing legislation to prevent that occurring would lead to a poor public policy outcome,” Mr Pearson said.

“I think in this particular case, my personal view - and bear in mind this has only happened in the last few days - I don’t think we should be legislating. I think the courts will be best placed to make a determination.“

Police in WA were accused of undermining public confidence in the check-in system after it was revealed last week they had accessed it on two occasions to look into separate shooting and stabbing attacks.

Legislation urgently introduced to WA Parliament subsequently aimed to stop anyone other than WA Health from being able to access the data. It also mandated the deletion of digital and hard copy check-ins after 28 days.

WA Nationals leader Mia Davies says the federal party’s leadership change is disappointing, but now it is up to Barnaby Joyce to rebuild the trust of voters and people within the party.

“He is the Deputy Prime Minister, or is about to be, of Australia,” she said. “It is up to him to rebuild the trust, to make sure that he is demonstrating that he is focused on things that all Australians expect us as leaders ... to be focused on.”

Ms Davies was the first senior figure in the Nationals to call for Mr Joyce’s resignation in early 2018 when she said the ongoing damage caused to the party by the politician meant its brand in regional WA was suffering.

WA Opposition Leader Mia Davies says she is disappointed in a federal leadership change that will see Barnaby Joyce return as deputy prime minister.Credit: WAtoday

The now WA opposition leader said she had not contacted Mr Joyce since he came out on top in a leadership spill this morning against Michael McCormack.

“It’s disappointing that there’s been a leadership change,” Ms Davies said.

“I’ve had a good relationship with Michael McCormack. I think he’s done a good job over the last three and a half years and certainly from my perspective, leadership changes are destabilising.

“I’m disappointed that the party felt they needed to change leaders. I think it shows that they’re focused on internal matters instead of the people of regional Australia.”

It was unclear if Ms Davies would stand alongside Mr Joyce at events during the upcoming election but she said their paths would cross during the campaign.

Ms Davies has previously rejected the findings of an internal WA Nationals review, which found her demand for Mr Joyce’s resignation had been a political manoeuvre designed to minimise damage to the state party from the growing scandal in Canberra.

The gallery below shows Barnaby Joyce’s three long years on the backbench in photos by Alex Ellinghausen.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s medical regulator has granted provisional approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be given to 12 to 15-year-olds.

Medsafe had already approved it for use in those 16 and older, and the move follows a decision to approve the vaccine for use in 12 to 15-year-olds by other regulators in Europe, the US, Canada, and Japan.

It will allow 265,000 people in the age bracket to be vaccinated by the end of the year, if the Ardern government’s vaccine rollout goes according to plan.

It has 10 million doses of Pfizer on order in 2021, enough for 5 million people – meaning the new rules shouldn’t lead to anyone else missing out. But about 1 million doses have actually arrived in New Zealand so far.

Ms Ardern noted that children didn’t typically get very sick from COVID-19, but they could infect others. “Put simply - when our children are vaccinated, their teachers, friends, siblings, parents and grandparents are more protected from the virus too. So it’s in all of our interests for this group to get the vaccine,” she said.

Young people are not expected to start receiving the vaccine until October. Stuff.co.nz

More than 120 ADF troops hit the ground in Victoria’s battered Dandenong Ranges today, distributing generators to hundreds of people still without power, 12 days after devastating storms swept the state.

Extraordinary scenes of devastation can still be found across the area amid growing weariness about the length of time it’s taking to connect people with supports.

Electricity distribution company AusNet Services confirmed about 2000 customers remained without power today, as its workers continued to rebuild the system after the storms.

Mount Evelyn resident Therese Harris receives a generator on Monday from an ADF team operating out of Olinda CFA.Credit: Joe Armao

Tree trunks with a diameter of more than two metres – some closer to seven metres – lay felled on the sides of Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, sections of which remain closed to all but essential travel.

Most roads have been cleared, but many power lines remain down. An AusNet spokeswoman said the company was working on 363 construction projects to restore power to households and businesses that remain disconnected, but that it is unlikely to be fully restored for all customers before July 10.

“These are complex construction jobs that generally take a full day’s work for crews but only restore power to a small amount of customers,” she said. Read the full report here.

Along with a better office and getting his hands back on the levers of power, Barnaby Joyce will more than double his salary once he’s sworn in as deputy prime minister tomorrow.

The new Nationals leader has been on the backbench since February 2018, where the base salary is $211,250 plus travel and office allowances.

There’s a loading of 105 per cent for the deputy prime minister job, taking his pay up to $433,062.50.

This would put Joyce comfortably within the top 1 per cent of Australia’s earners, based on the latest taxation data reported by senior economics correspondent Shane Wright the other week.

Deposed leader Michael McCormack, on the other hand, will see his pay go the other way.

Earlier today when media asked if he expected to stay in cabinet, he said that was a matter for Joyce.

There will have to be a reshuffle since the Nationals have a set number of frontbench spots (allocated on a quota based on the proportion of seats they hold in the coalition) and Joyce is sure to be wanting to reward his backers, several of whom were also on the backbench.

“I don’t think that the party was actually dissatisfied with my performance,” McCormack said.

“Some others wanted their job back and that drove them for three years. And I appreciate that this is democracy and it’s all about numbers, politics is the brutal arithmetic of numbers.”

For the record, cabinet ministers are paid $364,406.25 and year and regular ministers $332,718.75.

A hearing of the Disability Royal Commission scheduled to take place this week in Brisbane has been postponed after all employees at its Sydney office were directed to get a coronavirus test.

A spokesperson for the commission said NSW Health had advised at least one person who had entered 259 George Street, the large office building in which it has its offices, had tested positive to COVID-19.

The person did not enter the offices of the commission, but Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said earlier this afternoon there were concerns about exposure through use of the building’s lift.

Dr Chant said there were concerns about exposure through use of the lift on 259 George St, in Sydney’s CBD.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“In relation to some floors, as a precaution - because obviously it’s impossible to know who was in lifts when people are moving between a set of floors - those individuals have been asked to get a test,” she said.

Sydney-based commissioners, including former Federal Court judge Ronald Sackville, and their staff have been tested and moved to working from home as a result.

The hearing, which will focus on experiences of people with cognitive disability within the criminal justice system, has been postponed to August.

NSW health authorities have released a list of bus routes which may have exposed people to COVID-19 while travelling through the Hills, inner west and western Sydney.

Anyone who travelled on the following bus routes at the prescribed times is considered a close contact and must call NSW Health, get tested and isolate for 14 days:

• The 614X Bus from Baulkham Hills to Sydney on Tuesday 15 June. The bus departed at 8.40am from Gooden Drive (opposite Malvern Avenue) and arrived at Stand J, Wynyard Station at 9.23am.
• The 614X Bus from Sydney to Baulkham Hills on Tuesday 15 June. The bus departed at 5.44pm from Clarence Street (near King Street) and arrived at Gooden Drive (near Malvern Avenue) at 6.29pm.

People who travelled on the following routes at designated times are casual contacts. That means you must get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result, and continue monitoring for symptoms.

• The 600 Bus from Northmead to Parramatta on Wednesday 9 June. The bus departed at 8.49am from Windsor Road (after Mary Street)and arrived at Smith Street (after Phillip Street) at 9.05am.
• The 600 Bus from Northmead to Parramatta on Thursday 10 June. The bus departed at 8.46am
• from Windsor Road (after Mary Street)and arrived at Smith Street (after Phillip Street) at 9.02am.
• The 600 Bus from Parramatta to Winston Hills on Thursday 10 June. The bus departed at 2.14pm from Smith Street (before Phillip Street) and arrived at Windsor Road (after Churchill Drive) at 2.28pm.
• The 600 Bus from Northmead to Parramatta on Friday 11 June. The bus departed at 8.44am from Windsor Road (after Mary Street)and arrived at Smith Street (after Phillip Street) at 9am.
• The 428 Bus from Haymarket to Newtown on Tuesday 15 June. The bus departed at 1.20pm from Pitt Street (opposite Barlow Street) and arrived at King Street (opposite Missenden Road) at 1.34pm.
• The 426 Bus from Newtown to Haymarket on Tuesday 15 June. The bus departed at 2.27pm from King Street (near Missenden Road) and arrived at Pitt Street (before Hay Street) at 2.38pm.

Further to that, anyone who visited any floors of an office building at 2-4 Holden Street, Ashfield between 6pm and 7.30pm on Friday, June 18 should monitor for symptoms, and get tested and isolate if they appear.

The state announced two new COVID-19 cases today, which will be included in tomorrow’s numbers, and recorded a further two cases that we heard about yesterday.