As it happened: Victoria to begin lockdown for seven days as state’s COVID-19 cases continue to grow

Thanks for following our national news blog on yet another big day. I’m Natassia Chrysanthos signing off for another evening – my colleague Broede Carmody will be back with you as usual from 6.30am. Our newsroom will run the separate, free live blog on the Victorian COVID-19 outbreak tomorrow as well.

Here’s a recap of the day’s events:

• Victoria will enter a seven-day “circuit-breaker” lockdown after midnight. The state recorded 12 new cases today and has identified at least 10,000 primary and secondary contacts. Victoria’s mass COVID-19 vaccine centres will begin administering Pfizer shots for anyone aged 40 to 49. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said it was “clear there has been a super spreading event” in Melbourne but hoped the lockdown would remain short.

• Federal politicians exchanged barbs over the Victorian situation, with Labor and Greens MPs saying the government’s quarantine system and vaccination program was not working as it should. They took aim at the fact there were still 16 Victorian aged care homes where residents had not received a single dose. Health Minister Greg Hunt said those residences would receive vaccinations by the end of the week, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he sympathised with Melburnians and was supporting the Victorian government with all it had asked for.

• Several state borders have snapped shut and NSW has issued stay-at-home orders for travellers from Victoria ahead of an anticipated exodus from Melbourne. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has asked those leaving Victoria ahead of the midnight deadline not to exploit the goodwill of her state, and to get tested and isolate if they exhibit COVID-19 symptoms.
• And there have been significant court updates throughout the day. Eight school students had a semi-win in a landmark case they brought against Environment Minister Sussan Ley, arguing she has a responsibility to protect them and the environment from the impacts of climate change. The federal court ruled a prominent Sydney defamation barrister cannot act for Christian Porter in his case against the ABC after previously advising a potential witness in the case. And sexual assault charges against NRL player Jack de Belin will be dropped after two trials ended in a hung jury.

That’s all for tonight - thank you and enjoy your evening!

Meanwhile NSW conducted its six millionth COVID-19 test yesterday, so the state’s health ministry has released some stats about how often people line up for their nose tickle.

Of the 3,514,483 people who have taken COVID-19 tests in NSW, 61 per cent (2,138,516) were tested just once.

However, more than 52,000 people have been tested five or more times.

Young people made up the majority of tests recorded:

• People in their 30s accounted for 1,077,602 (18 per cent) of all tests.
• Those in their 20s had 923,657 tests (15 per cent).
• People in their 40s had 855,231 tests (14 per cent).

“I want to sincerely thank everyone in NSW who has come forward and been tested and urge you to continue to do so – if you have even the mildest of symptoms it is so important you come forward and get tested,” Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

Thousands of Victorians in their 40s have rushed to book in their Pfizer shots as an onslaught of calls to make appointments for vaccinations caused the state’s coronavirus hotline to temporarily crash.

As a Melbourne cluster spread to 26 people and swelled to more than 10,000 close contacts today, acting Premier James Merlino announced that Victoria’s mass COVID-19 vaccine centres will begin administering Pfizer shots for anyone aged 40 to 49.

The vaccination centre at Melbourne Showgrounds. Credit: Eddie Jim

But the push for more Victorians to get immunised against the virus triggered a high volume of booking calls that led to a widespread outage of the state’s coronavirus hotline.

Callers reported they had been left on hold for hours, while others said they were unable to get through to book their vaccine appointment.

Some callers also reported hearing a message saying the service was experiencing a delay due to a technical issue during the meltdown.

The state’s Health Department addressed the outage around midday, and calls to the service appeared to be operating again by 3pm.

You can catch up on the day’s COVID-19 developments in Victoria at our coronavirus live blog here.

In another important court judgment today, climate editor Nick O’Malley reports that eight school students have had a semi-win in a case they brought against Environment Minister Sussan Ley, arguing she has a responsibility to protect them and the environment from the impacts of climate change.

The lawyer representing the students, David Barnden, described the finding as a world-first victory.

The children, who met through the School Strike for Climate movement, had argued that due to Ms Ley’s duty of care to them and other children the court should grant an injunction preventing her from approving an extension to the Vickery coal mine owned by Whitehaven Coal and located near Gunnedah in NSW.

The court found that Ms Ley had a duty of care to protect them and the environment from the impacts of climate change.

“Many thousands will suffer premature death from heat-stress or bushfire smoke. Substantial economic loss and property damage will be experienced,” Justice Mordecai Bromberg wrote in a summary of his judgement.

“Those potential harms may fairly be described as catastrophic, particularly should global average surface temperatures rise to and exceed 3 degrees beyond the pre-industrial level.”

However, he dismissed their application to have Ms Ley blocked from granting an extension to the coal mine as a result, saying he was not satisfied that “a reasonable apprehension of breach of the duty of care by the minister has been established”.

But he invited the children and the minister to provide further submissions on the extent of the duty of care he said had been established, and what that may mean to the minister’s decision over the mine.

One of the students, 17-year-old Ava Princi, said she was relieved and thrilled by the judgement. “This is the first time a court of law, anywhere in the world, has recognised that a government minister has a duty of care to protect young people from the catastrophic harms of climate change,” she said.

You can read the full details in the article here.

In significant breaking news in the Christian Porter defamation case, the Federal Court has ruled that a Sydney defamation barrister cannot act for the federal Liberal minister in his case against the ABC after previously advising a potential witness in the case.

Michaela Whitbourn reports that Justice Tom Thawley has made an order restraining prominent silk Sue Chrysanthou, SC, from acting for Mr Porter to prevent the potential misuse of confidential information and to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, left, and solicitor Rebekah Giles leave the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday.Credit: Louie Douvis

Jo Dyer, a friend of the woman who accused Mr Porter of rape, had sought the order on the basis that Ms Chrysanthou had previously advised her in relation to an article in The Australian that was published after she appeared in an ABC Four Corners broadcast in November last year about Mr Porter and others.

An urgent three-day hearing started on Monday. Justice Thawley handed down his judgment behind closed doors to prevent any confidential information being aired publicly, before delivering a summary in open court.

He said in his summary that Ms Chrysanthou continued to represent Ms Dyer’s interests at least into February this year. She accepted a brief to act for Mr Porter on March 10.

The parties disagreed about whether confidential information was imparted at the November 20 meeting, which was also attended by James Hooke, a senior managing director at Macquarie Bank and a former boyfriend of the woman who accused Mr Porter of raping her in the late 1980s when they were both teenagers.

Mr Porter strenuously denies the allegation. The woman took her own life last year.

Read the full story here.

In some other news you might have missed this morning: Eric Carle, the beloved children’s author and illustrator whose classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other works gave millions of children some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, has died at the age of 91.

Carle’s family says he died on Sunday at his summer studio in Massachusetts, with family members at his side. Through books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Do You Want to Be My Friend? and From Head to Toe, Carle introduced universal themes in simple words and bright colours.

Children’s author Eric Carle, pictured in 2008, originally wrote about a hungry worm, but changed it to a caterpillar on his editor’s advice. Credit: AP

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969, was welcomed by parents and delighted kids with its story of the metamorphosis of a green-and-red caterpillar to a proudly multi-coloured butterfly.

Originally conceived as a book about a bookworm — called A Week with Willie the Worm — the hero, who eats through 26 different foods, was changed to a caterpillar on the advice of his editor. It has sold more than 40 million copies and has been translated into 60 languages.

AP

Requirements for people on welfare to apply for jobs in order to retain their payments are being waived for Victorians going into lockdown.

Here’s what Employment Minister Stuart Robert and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said in a media release today:

“The suspension of mutual obligation requirements will be enacted state-wide from today Thursday 27 May 2021 to Monday 7 June 2021 inclusive. No job seeker or participant in Victoria will face payment suspension or financial penalties for failing to meet their mutual obligation requirements, such as not being able to attend appointments or activities.

“These arrangements will apply to job seekers in Jobactive, Online Employment Services, Disability Employment Services and participants in ParentsNext. Job seekers and participants are still being encouraged to remain connected to employment services to ensure they are supported to access the full range of assistance including mental health services, if required.

“The government will continue to closely monitor the situation in Victoria.”

Here’s one more thing from the Prime Minister’s press conference a few hours ago.

The government has given a strong signal that it will agree to the Victorian government’s proposal for an extra quarantine facility in the state.

“[The Victorian government] know we are highly favourable towards this, we think this can be done quicker. That is one of the things we are working through with them now. One of the useful elements of this proposal is that it adds to capacity, it is not in place of hotel quarantine,” Mr Morrison said.

The project has had a bit of a tortured history, with the federal government saying it was unaware of the project until just before it was announced in late April. It is contingent on federal funding.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has some sobering words on the current outbreak.

“It is clear there has been a super spreading event from one of the member for the current cluster, especially in the workplace, that points to high risk at this time in terms of transmission through the community.”

But, he says, Australia can still get on top of the spread “if the numbers remain small”.

He said he hoped the Victorian lockdown would remain short and help get on top of the outbreak.“I’ve had many discussions with my Victorian colleagues over the last few days; it is the right thing to do at this stage. Let’s hope it’s just for a week, but it is necessary and Victorian authorities are doing the right thing right now and they have our support,” he said.

The latest developments on Melbourne’s COVID-19 outbreak is as follows:

• Victoria will go into circuit-breaker lockdown for seven days from 11.59pm after the state recorded 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the most recent 24-hour reporting period.
• One patient is now in intensive care and at least 10,000 primary and secondary contacts identified.
• Those aged 40 to 49 eligible for the Pfizer vaccine from Friday.
• Elective surgery has been suspended. Schools will move to remote learning while childcare centres remain open. Restaurants, pubs and cafes will offer takeaway only. Sporting venues and pools will close while entertainment venues including Crown casino will shut their doors.
• Aged care residents who are yet to be vaccinated can now get their COVID-19 vaccine soon after their flu vaccine.

New Zealand has also extended its pause on quarantine-free travel with Victoria until next Friday, which is a seven-day extension mirroring the snap lockdown in the state.

To hear more, you can listen to The Age city editor Bianca Hall as she joins Nathanael Cooper for today’s Please Explain podcast to talk about this snap lockdown and how it will hit Melbourne and the state of Victoria.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will be talking to reporters after 4pm today at Rugby League Central.

It comes after reports that sexual assault charges against NRL player Jack de Belin will be dropped.

St George Illawarra chairman Andrew Gordon has since called for the NRL to review its controversial no-fault stand-down rule, saying the de Belin saga highlighted the “pitfalls” of the protocol in its current guise.

The Dragons have paid de Belin more than a million dollars while he has been suspended under the policy.