Coronavirus Australia live news: Time to get economy out of ICU, says Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison will outline the government’s plan to reset economic growth in a speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
- PM to outline plan to reset economy
- Hotel quarantine saving lives: Hunt
- Mikakos: Work from home until June end
- Frydenberg dismisses Senate appearance request
- Johnson digs in over adviser’s breach
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Scott Morrison will unveil his path to get ‘the economy out of the ICU’ on Tuesday. Greg Hunt says establishing where COVID-19 originated in China is ‘precisely why’ Australia is pushing for an independent inquiry. The Health Minister also says hotel quarantine will continue to be a key part of border protection measures. A pro-China company paid by the Andrews government also promoted the Belt and Road Initiative to Daniel Andrews, it’s been revealed. And in the UK, Boris Johnson has again refused to sack his top adviser despite more reports of lockdown breaches.
Agencies 7.40pm Japan ends state of emergency
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has lifted the state of emergency imposed nationally to combat coronavirus following a sharp decline in the number of new cases.
“We had very stringent criteria for lifting the state of emergency. We have judged that we have met this criteria,” Mr Abe told a nationally televised news conference on Monday.
“Today we will lift the state of emergency nationwide.
Experts on a government-commissioned panel approved the lifting of the emergency in Tokyo, neighbouring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, and in Hokkaido to the north, which had remained under the emergency declaration after it was removed in most of Japan earlier this month.
Japan, with about 16,600 confirmed cases and about 850 deaths, has avoided the large outbreaks that have been experienced in the US and the Europe despite its softer restrictions.
READ MORE: New Yorkers emerge to tell tale of two cities
Angelica Snowden 6.39pm: Palmer’s High Court challenge on border closure
Businessman and former politician Clive Palmer will challenge the legality of Western Australia’s border closures after lodging documents with the High Court.
Mr Palmer was denied entry to Western Australia last week after he tried to visit Senator Mathias Cormann and potential 2021 state election candidates for his United Australia Party.
He tweeted that closing the border was an “act of stupidity” and illegal under the Australian Constitution.
Palmer to lodge High Court challenge over border closure - Monday
— Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) May 24, 2020
Clive Palmer announced today he would be lodging documents with the High Court on Monday, declaring the border closure of Western Australia is unconstitutional.
“Closing down the border is not only an act of stupidity by WA Premier McGowan, but it is against the Aust constitution & Im confident the High Court will see it that way as well,” Mr Palmer tweeted.
“The WA Premier needs to act now to ensure a successful future beyond COVID-19 by opening his borders to allow trade and travel from Australian states into WA,’’ he said.
Mr Palmer said he would challenge the border closure based on section 92 of the Constitution, which says the movement of people between states must be free.
The High Court has made exceptions to the rule on health grounds.
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Angelica Snowden 6.17pm: SA restrictions to be lifted one week earlier
South Australia will lift COVID-19 restrictions almost a week earlier than expected, allowing cinemas, beauty salons and gyms to reopen, and large venues to host 80 people.
Premier Steven Marshall said the state’s second phase will no longer begin on June 5 but be brought forward to next Monday, June 1.
“These great results give us confidence to gradually and carefully lift the restrictions and get us back to normality,” he said.
“It’s only possible because of the low or no results and high level of testing.
Speaking #live: Step 2 easing of restrictions has been brought forward to 1 June and new max limits on people have been set. Tune in: https://t.co/A2E3AD4lUv
— Steven Marshall, MP (@marshall_steven) May 25, 2020
“If it continues, it opens up a world of possibilities of when and what (restrictions) we’ll be able to remove in the future.”
Outlining the elements of stage two restrictions, Mr Marshall said the one person per four sqm and 1.5m social distancing rules will remain.
Cinemas, theatres, museums, beauty salons, gyms and indoor fitness centres will reopen under the easing of stage two restrictions.
Smaller businesses will be allowed to host a maximum of 20 customers, larger venues, like pubs, can serve 80 people as long as they are accommodated in separate areas or rooms.
As of June 1, the maximum number of people attending funerals will increase to 50.
Over the past 33 days, SA had only one confirmed case.
There have been more than 90,000 tests conducted since February.
With AAP
READ MORE: Biggest accounting error worth debating
Lachlan Moffet Gray 5.48pm: Coles set to lift remaining purchase restrictions
Coles will lift all remaining purchase restrictions on products that were once hoarded by Australians during the height of the coronavirus pandemic from Tuesday.
Tomorrow Australians will be able to buy as many antibacterial wipes and liquid soap as they like following the lifting of purchase restrictions on rice and flour last week.
It marks a departure from early March when customers could only purchase two packets of these items or less per transaction, and only one packet of toilet paper.
The only restriction remaining is on baby formula, with the four tins per person limit instituted before the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Coles thanked the customers for their patience.
“We know it’s been a challenging time for many and we hope having no buying restrictions on these every day products will help make life easier for our customers,” they said.
“We would like to thank our customers for their ongoing patience and our team for their incredible work to help us reach a new normal in shopping.
READ MORE: Australia close to vaccine patient zero
Richard Ferguson 5.00pm: PM to outline plan to reset economic growth
Scott Morrison will unveil his path to get “the economy out of the ICU” on Tuesday with a headland National Press Club speech focusing on industrial relations reform, skills and avoiding more debt.
The Prime Minister first flagged his headland speech in The Australian last week, where he outlined the need to pursue a new compact between government, business, workers and the unions to re-start the economy after being ravaged by the coronavirus.
Mr Morrison also signalled in that exclusive interview that he is willing to mandate policy reform, but hoped to find common ground on reviving economic growth.
The Australian understands he will not promise the big spending, government led economic recovery being advocated by Labor and the trade unions, warning Australians will ultimately pay.
“We must not borrow from future generations that we cannot return to them in higher standards of living,” he will say.
Government sources say skills and industrial relations reform will be central to Mr Morrison’s speech, but he will also touch on tax reform, deregulation, energy and the federation.
Mr Morrison is due to say that any industrial relations reform process would be designed to “save as many jobs as we can and create as many new jobs as possible.”
READ MORE: Scott Morrison’s post-pandemic powerplay
Tim Dodd 4.42pm: Deakin University to shed 400 jobs due to COVID
Deakin University will shed 400 jobs because of the revenue losses caused by COVID-19, vice-chancellor Iain Martin told staff today.
Of the job losses, 100 will be met by not filling currently vacant roles, meaning that 300 positions will go, about a 3 per cent reduction in the number of people employed at the university.
Professor Martin said that the university would not adopt the National Tertiary Education Union’s job protection framework, in which the union is offering pay cuts for one year in return for more job security.
He said the university saw no need for measures in the framework such as forced reduction in hours and pay cuts of up to 15 per cent.
“The approach we are proposing, combining debt and cost savings, will ensure that Deakin is in the best position to preserve as many jobs as possible in the medium term, rather than simply seeking to get to a notionally balanced budget over the next 12 months,” Professor Martin said.
He said the university’s estimated revenue would fall by $250m to $300m next year and, for the next 18-36 months, the university would be spending much more than it earned.
NTEU national president Alison Barnes said the federal government could have saved the Deakin jobs if it used some of the $60bn saved by the error in estimating the cost of JobKeeper, to extend the JobKeeper scheme to universities like Deakin.
“Deakin is a major employer in regional Australia and the impact of this will be disproportionate for a place like Geelong,” Dr Barnes said.
READ MORE: Australia’s chance to lure back overseas students
Paul Garvey 3.09pm: WA Premier to relax regional travel restrictions
WA Premier Mark McGowan has dropped almost all the state’s remaining regional travel restrictions but will hold on for now to bans on playgrounds and beauty salons.
The loosened boundaries will come into effect from Friday, ahead of the upcoming WA Day long weekend.
The government had been under pressure to act on the regional boundaries amid low levels of virus transmission in the state, with the northern parts of the state in particular keen to reopen ahead of the peak tourism season.
Only the Kimberley region in WA’s far north and a biosecurity zone straddling part of the eastern Pilbara and Goldfields region will remain closed off.
The news came as WA announced a jump of four new cases of coronavirus in the state, taking the total number of active cases to six.
The four cases are all members of a family that arrived in Perth from Doha on 17 May. The family, who were returning to their home in Melbourne, were diagnosed while under quarantine in a Perth hotel.
There had also been calls for WA to follow the lead of other states and reopen playgrounds and skate parks, museums and galleries, and nail parlours and beauty salons and loosen the 20-person limit across bars, restaurants and cafes.
Mr McGowan said he expected the government would announce a further loosening of those restrictions either late this week or this weekend.
READ MORE: Are car sales next in the fast lane?
Lachlan Moffet Gray 2.32pm: Inquiry into virus origins ‘beginning to take form’
Establishing whether COVID-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory or in the wild is “precisely why” Australia has been pushing for an independent inquiry into coronavirus’s origin in China, says federal health minister Greg Hunt.
Professor Petrovsky also thinks it should be “considered as a possibility” that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been known to keep live samples of coronaviruses.
The theory has been supported by US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo but rubbished by the Chinese government and some health authorities.
Mr Hunt said he thought it was most likely the coronavirus originated in nature, but was open to the possibility of an alternative point of origination.
“This is precisely why, precisely why, we argue for an impartial independent and comprehensive international investigation,” Mr Hunt said.
“The result of the world health assembly last week, the unanimous decision, Australia and the EU working together was so important,” Mr Hunt said, referring to a vote at the WHO’s annual meeting where 116 countries backed Australia’s push for the inquiry.
“Now we will have our disease detectives with the capacity to be real disease detectives.
“We know it originated Wuhan, the first detected case was in the wet market, as to the precise origins of transfer that is for the disease detectives, the overwhelming advice is that it likely came from animals to humans.”
“Australian officials are now working both from DFAT and health through the World Health Organisation, at Geneva, and I’m very confident that process will begin to take form,” he said.
“We have that motion, many thought it was an impossibility, that we would have a motion passed, calling for an independent and comprehensive evaluation.
“It didn’t just pass, it passed unanimously.”
READ MORE: Hundreds come forward for COVID injections
Rebecca Urban 2.30pm: Strong school attendance rates in NSW, Qld
Close to 2 million students in NSW and Queensland have returned to school full-time, with both states reporting strong attendance rates.
In NSW, public school attendance was 86 per cent, while Queensland attendance was 90 per cent, the state’s education departments have confirmed
A spokesman for the Queensland government said Monday’s average attendance was in line with the daily average throughout 2019, which was 90.4 per cent.
The return of the two states means that around 70 per cent of the nation’s students are back in class full-time following an extended period of learning from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace said significant changes were made to the school environment to enable students to return, such as restricting visitor and parent access to school grounds and staggering start, break and lunch times.
“We’ve taken extraordinary measures to ensure the health and safety of everyone attending schools, including strict hygiene practices and increased cleaning of classrooms and play equipment,” she said.
“We also have a range of resources available to support the wellbeing and mental health of staff and students as they return to school.”
READ MORE: School leavers given help to win uni place
Lachlan Moffet Gray 2.13pm: Panel to determine when crowds can return to stadiums
The NRL’s desire for crowds at games to resume from July is in the hands of the medical expert panel, federal health minister Greg Hunt has said.
“There is a process which has been set up with the states and the medical expert panel to review all of the professional sports and they will make judgements without fear or favour,” Mr Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“They won’t make judgements on economic imperatives or anything.
“Our goal is to get Australians back to as much normality as possible as soon as possible but our guideline is to do it safely.”
Mr Hunt said that if there was to be a second wave of coronavirus in Australia, the government would look to create localised “rings of containment”, with the resumption of lockdown orders only to be imposed if there is a “systemic” outbreak.
“If there is a suburban, facility based, or if there is a regional outbreak, we want those localised rings of containment,” Mr Hunt said.
“It would only be if there was a systemic statewide outbreak that we would look at reversing. At this stage the belief is that is highly unlikely.”
Australia has enhanced the capacity to care for coronavirus victims, expanding the national number of ventilators from 2200 to 7500, Mr Hunt said.
READ MORE: V’landys sets July 1 target for crowds
Lachlan Moffet Gray 2.06pm: Treasury’s JobKeeper forecasts were rational: Hunt
Federal health minister Greg Hunt has said Treasury did not “overestimate” the potential impacts of coronavirus when assessing the number of employees that would require the JobKeeper wage subsidy, maintaining they made responsible forecasts based on the information available at the time.
Last Friday it was revealed that the JobKeeper wage subsidy was forecast to cost $60 billion more than planned, and would cover three million less workers than estimated.
Mr Hunt said the additional assumptions made by Treasury on the effects of coronavirus on the economy were rational.
“All of this needs to be put in the context - and that’s why I mentioned not what’s occurred in Europe or North America which is already well known to us, but the fact that this disease is now spreading at an accelerated rate through Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South Asia,” Mr Hunt said.
“It tells us this is a deadly and contagious virus. That puts into context what Australia has done.
“Australians have done magnificently but I think when you look at the world we’ve actually done even better than we have acknowledged.
“That the degree of gravity, the speed of spread, the extent of contagion globally is even
greater than anybody had predicted in the early days.
“It shows what we have avoided in Australia could have been catastrophic on a scale unimagined, unimaginable and not something that was faced since 1919.”
READ MORE: Biggest accounting error worth debating
Lachlan Moffet Gray 2.00pm: Where the $20m mental health funding is going
Australia’s new Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Mental Health Dr Ruth Vine has pledged to use her three decades of experience as a psychiatrist and mental health practitioner to combat a growing mental health crisis.
Dr Vine said that although there has yet to been “a discernible increase to suicides”, it is something that must be watched as more data becomes available.
Expanding on where the $20 million in additional funding will be going, Dr Vine said that some of the money would be used to enhance men’s mental health research.
“It’s about encouraging men to be able to more openly talk about the stresses they’re under and that of course being a precursor to better help seeking,” Dr Vine said.
“Just on that I think it’s important to note that it has always been the case I think that males have a higher suicide rate than do women - but a lower help seeking rate and a lower use of counselling services.”
Federal health minister Greg Hunt said $3.7 million would be given to the University of New South Wales to help enhance mental health digital services, $1.4 million to the University of Melbourne for depressive disorder research, $1.3 million to the Queensland Medical Research Institute “for improving the performance of tailoring medicines”, $1 million for Neuro Science Research Australia for further study into Bipolar disorder and $2.59 million for Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital for medicine testing and comparison.
READ MORE: Mental health challenges demand vigilance
Lachlan Moffet Gray 1.50pm: Hotel quarantine saving lives: Hunt
Australia must remain “an island sanctuary in a difficult world”, says federal health minister Greg Hunt, with the nation’s border protection and mandatory hotel quarantine scheme “literally saving lives”.
Mr Hunt said that the mandatory quarantining of returning travellers comprises the bulk of Australia’s few new coronavirus cases, which, with a positive coronavirus test result rate at just 0.6 per cent, is one of the lowest infection rates in the world.
“Border protection and hotel quarantine is literally saving lives and protecting lives and we’ll continue to be a fundamental part of our national health and strategic defence going forward,” Mr Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“Whilst we’re doing well at home, internationally we have seen an acceleration of cases.
“In Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia - countries with large populations, with rapidly expanding cases.
“And there is a very real chance the world will move from five to six million at the fastest rate of growth for any one million additional cases.
“That means that whilst Australia has made progress, the world is not out the woods.”
Mr Hunt said that just 501 active coronavirus cases remained in Australia, with just 32 patients in hospital and five in intensive care units.
The number of people who have downloaded the COVIDSafe coronavirus tracing app remains at just over six million.
“People from all walks of life are embracing it. It remains a very important part of our national health defence mechanisms going forward.”
READ MORE: ‘This virus doesn’t want to kill us’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 1.40pm: $20m in third stage of mental health response
The federal government has earmarked $20 million to assist Australians struggling with their mental illness under their third stage of the mental health response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Approximately $17 million of the money has been approved by the Medical Research Future Fund to be distributed as targeted grants to battle suicide prevention, mental health medicine development and to analyse the mental health impacts of COVID-19, federal minister for health Greg Hunt said.
“There’s a particular focus on suicide prevention with just over $10 million, $10.3 million for suicide prevention,” Mr Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“Six and three quarter million dollars for better tailored precision medicines for mental health.
“On top of that there’s $3 million looking very specifically at the mental health impact of COVID-19.
“Both generalised research but specific programs to help individuals through our leading academic institutions, and that program will open on June 1.
“So as we focus rightly on the health of Australians, we must never lose sight of the mental health of Australians.”
READ MORE: Mental health challenges demand vigilance
Lachlan Moffet Gray 1.14pm: Fitzgibbon ‘needs to clarify if he’s on team Australia’
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie says opposition spokesman for agriculture and resources Joel Fitzgibbon needs to clearly state whether he is on “team Australia” after he accused the government of “demonising China” and criticising Scott Morrison’s push for an inquiry into the origin of coronavirus in China.
“Joel needs to decide whose team he’s actually on,” Senator McKenzie told Sky News on Monday.
“I categorically reject any suggestion that we were not within our right, and indeed, the global coalition we’ve been able to build on the back of our cause for an inquiry into a pandemic that has cost hundreds of thousands of peoples’ lives.
“Joel needs to get on board team Australia or is he backing other Labor entities such as Daniel Andrews by putting the Chinese interest above Australia’s.”
Mr Fitzgibbon on Monday refused to apologise for his comments, telling Sky News that the inquiry push hurt Australia’s relationship with China and endangered export opportunities for Australian industry.
Mr Fitzgibbon doubled down on his comments on Monday telling Sky News Scott Morrison unnecessarily damaged Australia’s relationship with China by pursuing the pandemic probe without international support.
In recent weeks China has imposed a tariff of 80 per cent on Australian barley exports and banned the import of meat from four Australian abattoirs.
Reports have also emerged that China is instructing energy companies not to purchase Australian coal.
Deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud has called on the Labor leader to sack Mr Fitzgibbon over the comments but this morning Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce said he understood Mr Fitzgibbon’s position.
Senator McKenzie denied there was a split within her party on the issue.
“I think the National party backs the productivity of our Australian growers, we need them to be producing, we want them to be exporting,” she said.
“It is very important that we have strong trading relationships. But again, when we think about things that may have influenced China’s decision, they are all decisions, they are all things we called for that are in our national interest.”
READ MORE: Fitzgibbon breaks ranks to back China view on coronavirus probe
Lachlan Moffet Gray 12.55pm: School attendance in NSW nears pre-COVID levels
Most parents in NSW have sent their children back to school without complaint, with the government revealing that attendance rates on Monday - the first day that face-to-face learning resumes in the state - are almost on par with pre-coronavirus levels.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said that 86 per cent of students attended school, compared to a typical attendance rate of around 90 per cent in normal circumstances.
Ms Mitchell said she was happy with the results as the minor difference in attendance could be attributed to parents keeping children who are even just slightly ill at home in line with government advice.
“Our average rate of students who are absent today is sitting at 14 per cent … which is great,” Ms Mitchell told 2GB on Monday.
“We have said to parents if your children are unwell, keep them at home. So I’m really happy with those numbers.”
Ms Mitchell said that parents who are still hesitant to send their children to school should not be concerned.
“The rules are pretty clear in NSW in that children need to be enrolled in school and they do need to attend,” she said.
“I think we have done a pretty good job to reassure parents that schools are safe, the health advice backs that up.”
There were also no major issues with the school commute, Ms Mitchell said, with only a minor bit of congestion occuring “at school sites in local areas” where a higher number of parents elected to drive their children to school in line with government advice.
“Obviously we will see how pickup goes this afternoon … by and large, I’m pretty happy with how things have gone this morning,” she said.
Ms Mitchell said a majority of parents were happy to send their children back to school.
“We know that the best teaching and learning takes place in the classroom, they’re (the children) excited to be back and I think parents are breathing a sigh of relief because homeschooling is finished.
“It’s a good day for many parents.”
READ MORE: Learning toll revealed as classes return
Lachlan Moffet Gray 12.25pm: Just 27 active cases remain in New Zealand
New Zealand has recorded no new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and has just 27 active cases remaining in the entire country.
Just one person remains in hospital being treated for the disease and only two cases have been diagnosed in the past week.
More than 260,000 coronavirus tests have been carried out in the state and 380,000 New Zealanders have downloaded the government’s new COVID tracer app, similar in design to Australia’s COVIDsafe app - but without the “digital handshake” feature, which allows two users to exchange information automatically after a period of extended contact.
On Friday the Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield visited the country’s quarantine facilities where returning travellers are made to remain for a period of 14 days.
Over the weekend the 10,000th arrival returned to the country from Melbourne, the NZ Herald reports.
Bloomfield said protecting the border was a “critical” part of the government’s strategy to eliminate Covid-19, especially now that domestic cases are at such low levels.
Dr Bloomfield said New Zealand’s strict border control has contributed to the country’s success in fighting the virus.
“We don’t want to put the progress we have made in jeopardy and we know international arrivals continue to be a potential source of new cases,” he said.
“It was important to me to be satisfied that guests are being appropriately supported and that health requirements are being met.”
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Lachlan Moffet Gray 12.03pm: We’ll learn from pandemics forecasts: Frydenberg
Josh Frydenberg has continued to rationalise Treasury’s $60 billion overstatement of the cost of the JobKeeper scheme, saying forecasting during a pandemic is no easy task and that no heads will roll as a result of the mistake.
“Well, Treasury finds forecasting during a pandemic as hard as it would be for any other Treasury around the world,” the federal treasurer told 2SM’s John Laws.
“As you know on the health front the government went out and bought 5500 ventilators … as it turns out, we now have five people on a ventilator,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Mr Frydenberg criticised the Labor party for demanding he appear in front of a Senate Committee into the government’s COVID-19 response, saying the opposition is trying to make “political hay” out of the issue when they should understand the difficulty of forecasting.
My Frydenberg said “I’m not” looking to make any heads roll, and said all the government needs to do is learn from the experience about forecasting in a pandemic.
READ MORE: Economic lifeline working in a unique crisis
Richard Ferguson 11.58am: Albanese fails to criticise Victoria’s China deal
Anthony Albanese says any federal Labor government he leads will snub China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but he has refused to criticise Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for signing up.
The Opposition Leader on Monday slammed the Morrison government for hitting out at Victoria’s deal – which has raised the ire of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – since it has lauded the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement signed in 2015.
Mr Albanese said he was not endorsing Mr Andrews’ decision to join the controversial Chinese infrastructure scheme, but suggested the Premier ignored federal security advice because of the Coalition’s past in setting up CHAFTA and selling the Port of Darwin.
“A government I led would not be signing up to the Belt and Road Initiative,” he told Triple M Tasmania.
“This is a government that trumpeted, trumpeted, a free trade with China … which goes beyond.
“Maybe he (Daniel Andrews) thought that these blokes sold off the Port of Darwin and now the person who was trade minister at that period (Andrew Robb) is an adviser to the company that oversees it.”
READ MORE: ‘China in move to silence its critics’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.49am: Fitzgibbon stands firm on China comments
Opposition spokesman for agriculture and resources Joel Fitzgibbon has defended comments he made accusing the government of “demonising China” and their “system of government” amid calls for him to be sacked.
Agriculture minister David Littleproud has called on Anthony Albanese to remove the Labor frontbencher for the comments, and for criticising the government’s push for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus in China.
But Mr Fitzgibbon remains unrepentant, saying the government has unnecessarily damaged Australian-Chinese relations.
“All I’ve been doing is standing up for the national interest and Australian jobs,” Mr Fitzgibbon told Sky News on Monday.
“It was just unnecessary for our Prime Minister to run out ahead of everyone else and use such intemperate language,” he said.
“If you’re going to have an inquiry anyway, and we were always going to do just that, why use such intemperate language against your largest trading partner?
“You know why he did that … because he was chasing domestic votes.”
READ MORE: Fitzgibbon breaks ranks to back China view on coronavirus probe
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.36am: NSW high school student’s case a false positive
A secondary student who was suspected to be COVID-19 positive after attending school last Tuesday has returned a negative result, saving NSW Health the trouble of shutting down his school and contract tracing.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said false positives will occasionally occur as widespread testing of people with flu-like symptoms continues.
What are some of the key things young people can do to make sure they’re safe when returning to school? Watch this interview with Dr Kerry Chant, NSW Chief Health Officer. #COVID19 #COVID19au pic.twitter.com/lvI0Ic3e2j
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 24, 2020
“That case has been concluded as a false positive and that is occasionally what will occur,” Dr Chant told reporters.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also said she would like to see a trans-Tasman exclusive transport bubble between New Zealand and Australia “this side of Christmas”.
“I would encourage that, that is something we should all look forward to,” she said.
READ MORE: Virus app attracts foreign interest
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.22am: NSW could ease bus, train restrictions
NSW may ease strict passenger restrictions on public transport if current limits prove unworkable as network usage increases, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said.
Last week NSW instituted maximum passenger limits on a bus of 12 people and on a train carriage, 32.
But as transport network usage increases in coming weeks, NSW Health may look at their “options”, Ms Berejiklian said.
“Because we have taken a very conservative approach to public transport compared to other parts of the world, there are options that we have,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Monday.
“Initially we want to take a very conservative approach, and we will keep working with health experts on the health advice.”
Ms Berejiklian said “we are not in a position to change that” at the moment but said the government had “options before us”.
The Premier also said she was working with the gym and fitness industry to establish a plan to safely reopen the sector, but said she was not in a position to announce anything yet.
“Look, we’re still working with industry on that, and Dr Chant might want to add to this, but obviously frequent use of equipment at short intervals poses a health risk, and so we are working with industry on a safe return there,” she said.
“We are not in a position to make any announcement yet.”
Ms Berejiklian also said preliminary school attendance data was similar to pre-COVID levels, indicating that most parents have heeded the government’s order to send their children back to school.
“We will have a better figure towards the end of the day, but early indications from the minister are that it doesn’t far exceed what would be a normal rate of absenteeism,” she said.
“I do assume it would be higher than the normal rate of absenteeism, but at a healthy rate.”
READ MORE: Extra staff to enforce bus and train limits
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.10am: Two locally acquired cases added to NSW’s total
NSW has confirmed an additional three cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s total to 3090.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said one of the cases was a returning traveller in hotel quarantine while Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the other two were locally acquired cases.
“There is a 71-year-old lady from southeastern Sydney local health district, and we are undertaking some additional testing because we feel that she may well have had the disease for a while, so we are undertaking testing on her to confirm that she may well have had the disease many weeks ago,” Dr Chant told reporters on Monday.
“Public health contact tracing is being undertaken.
“There is also an 85-year-old male from Sydney local health district, and that case is currently under investigation.”
Dr Chant said 90 coronavirus cases were being treated by NSW Health, most out of hospital, with one person still remaining in ICU.
That patient is receiving ventilated assistance.
READ MORE: Australia close to vaccine patient zero
Rachel Baxendale 11.05am: Two news cases in Victoria overseas travellers
Victoria has confirmed a further two cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number in the state to 1605.
Both cases were confirmed in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
There have been no deaths reported since Saturday, with the state’s death toll steady at 19.
There are eight people in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19, including three in intensive care.
There are 1605 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Vic (â¬†ï¸ 2) & sadly 19 deaths. 180 cases may be community transmission (no change). 8 people are in hospital, inc 3 in ICU. 1520 ppl recovered, >431,500 tests processed. Our message: even if you have mild symptoms, get tested #springst
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) May 24, 2020
The total number of people who have recovered is 1520.
Andrews government frontbencher Richard Wynne told a press conference there were 64 active cases remaining in Victoria.
There have been 180 cases in Victoria with no known link to overseas travel or other known cases, indicating community transmission. One case remains under investigation.
There have been 432,000 COVID-19 tests conducted in Victoria, including 11,000 since Sunday.
READ MORE: WHO’s flawed vision is all about the big picture
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.55am: Public will have dim view on China deal: Lib MP
The Victorian government’s determination to go “behind the Commonwealth’s back” and sign up for China’s Belt and Road Infrastructure scheme will not be viewed favourably by the public, Liberal MP Tim Wilson says.
Premier Daniel Andrews signed a memorandum of understanding over the deal in 2018, which will see billions of Chinese debt made available for Victorian infrastructure programs and give Chinese firms the right to bid for infrastructure contracts.
The Victorian government has said the deal will be important in helping the Victorian economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
But Liberal MP Tim Wilson told Sky News “If it was all about jobs then he would have had no problem going through each step with the Commonwealth government.”
“The Commonwealth has responsibility for relationships with other countries and when you come to a state government going behind the Commonwealth’s back to go and do deals with the Chinese communist party, I think the public takes a pretty dim view,” he said.
“It raises big questions about our sovereignty, about making sure the states do the proper thing by our country.
“Now they’re trying to say its all about jobs I think is a distraction frankly from the questionable deal that they’ve done behind the Commonwealth’s back.”
Mr Wilson said he understood why US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said America would “disconnect” with Australia if Victoria’s deal with China threatened telecommunications security.
“It shows you that the United States feels strongly … They have alliance partners like Australia, and they expect us to work with us properly.”
READ MORE: Adviser’s secret link to China deal
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.25am: Frydenberg: How $60bn error happened
Josh Frydenberg says the explanation behind the $60 billion JobKeeper forecasting error is “very clear,” pointing to an initial estimate by Treasury that was off the mark, compounded with businesses incorrectly filling out forms.
“When we announced the JobKeeper package on the 30th of March, that was at the height of the pandemic, you will remember that the number of daily cases was increasing by more than 20 per cent per day,” the Federal Treasurer told 2GB on Monday.
“Treasury, when they estimated that 6.5 million workers would access the JobKeeper payment, and that it would cost around $130 billion, they thought that the economy would enter into a very, very deep hole, and we could even enter the lockdown situation that we saw in Europe.
“That explains why the costing has come down by $60 billion.”
Mr Frydenberg said the error was not detected for a few months because some business owners accidentally misreported the number of employees they had on their payroll.
“The second thing that has happened – when businesses, a small number of businesses, when they went to fill in the form, they put in the box, instead of the number of employees they have, the amount of number they thought they would get from JobKeeper,” he said.
“That incorrect data was used to tell the government that six and a half million were actually on JobKeeper.
“But payments made under the JobKeeper data based on other data, not that incorrect data … so nobody was overpaid or underpaid based on those incorrect forms.”
Mr Frydenberg said the fact the government did not have to borrow an additional $60 billion was a good thing.
“This is all borrowed money. And that means future generations, our children and grandchildren, will have to pay it back.
“And it will take years to take it back.”
READ MORE: Economic lifeline is working
Charlie Peel 10.20am: Birdsville Races scratched
The famous Birdsville Races on the edge of the Simpson Desert will not be run in 2020 after organisers determined the uncertainty around coronavirus restrictions meant the outback event could not go ahead.
The horse races, which have attracted thousands of visitors to the tiny Queensland township since 1882, will be staged in September 2021.
The last time the races were cancelled was in 2007 when equine influenza restricted the movement of horses around the country.
Birdsville Race Club president Gary Brook said the decision not to stage this year’s races was made with “heavy hearts”.
“As much as we were holding onto the hope that we could run them, we’re at a point where we’ve had to concede defeat,” Mr Brook said.
“The health of our patrons, and those who live in Outback Queensland, is of paramount importance to us – and it is impossible to know what the status with COVID-19 will be come September.
“We have been following the Queensland government’s roadmap for easing of restrictions, and with the easing of restrictions on mass gatherings not currently part of the roadmap, it is too much of a stretch to expect that by September we could safely host thousands of people in Birdsville.”
The club’s reluctance to pull the pin was driven by the region’s reliance on tourism, which is typically at its peak in the winter months.
Each September, the races attract about 7000 tourists from throughout Australia, whose trek to the town of 115 residents generates an economic boost for the towns along the various routes into Birdsville.
Tourism operators have criticised Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s statement last week that the state’s borders may not open until September.
“We contemplated a range of options, and even considered moving the event to late September or early October,” Mr Brook said.
“However the consensus now is that it will still be too soon to allow us to run the event. And with the heat that comes to the Simpson Desert region in November and December there is no way we could go any later.”
Organisers hope that reduced international travel will lead to record domestic crowds in 2021.
Racing Queensland chief executive Brendan Parnell said the “iconic” races were an important part of the state’s horse racing identity.
“Every year, the pictures from the Simpson Desert are beamed around the world and the annual pilgrimage has become a true bucket list item for so many people,” he said.
“Racing has a key role to play in driving Queensland’s post-pandemic tourism recovery and we look forward to seeing Birdsville return bigger and better in 2021.”
READ MORE: Scientist close to vaccine
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.10am: ACTU: ’Fess up, pay up on wage subsidies
ACTU President Michele O’Neil says the government cannot “rewrite history” and not commit to the promise it made to support workers through the coronavirus pandemic.
On Friday it was revealed that Treasury incorrectly forecasted that the Jobkeeper wage subsidy scheme would cost $130 billion, instead of the correct figure of $70 billion, and that it would cover three million less workers than predicted.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the error was made as his department made the initial forecast on overly pessimistic health advice but Ms O’Neil said the government had to own up to its mistake.
“The important thing here is that they ‘fess up, they don’t punch down and blame others.”
“It seems like every day now there is a reason as to why this bungle happened,” ‘he told Sky News on Monday.
Ms O’Neil said the government should use the extra income to expand the JobKeeper scheme to include workers not originally eligible and support the unemployed.
“You’ve got to look at the human consequences of it. We have a government that promised to spend this money keeping Australian workers in jobs,” she said.
“You can’t then just rewrite history. There is a huge problem with unemployment. Six hundred thousand Australian workers lost their job just in the month of April. So it’s not like there isn’t a dramatic need.”
“They just need to say OK, we’ve somehow made a colossal mistake in the figures here, now we are going to make sure every Australian who needs support is going to get it.”
READ MORE: ‘Cut tax to spark mining boom’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.50am: Chalmers: don’t lecture Labor on fiscal responsibility
Opposition spokesman for treasury Jim Chalmers has slammed the $60 billion JobKeeper forecasting error as “the biggest error ever made in a budget by any government at any point in Australian history” and said Labor will no longer “take lectures” from the government on fiscal responsibility.
Mr Chalmers said the fact that the government would not expand the scheme in light of its lower forecast cost was “catastrophic” for workers who were excluded from the scheme.
“That’s catastrophic for hundreds of thousands of Australian workers who were excluded from the scheme on the basis the program was full,” Mr Chalmers told ABC Radio National on Monday.
“And what Mathias Cormann just said then … that for a large number of these workers, everything will be OK, because they are off to Centrelink to get onto the JobSeeker payment.
“And I think that’s an admission of failure that the objectives of this program, to keep as many people attached to their employer as possible, are not being met.”
Mr Chalmers said that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had to accept responsibility for the forecasting error.
“Ministers are responsible for stuff ups of this magnitude. What the treasurer did initially was hide behind public servants … he should take responsibility for this … it has Josh Frydenberg’s name on this and he needs to take responsibility for this error.”
Mr Chalmers said the government could no longer claim to be more fiscally responsible than Labor.
“We will no longer take lectures on fiscal responsibility from these characters, who had already more than doubled debt before this virus, who delivered only deficits after promising only surpluses, and who are now responsible for the biggest blunder in the budget in our history
“The days of these guys being taken seriously on the budget, or the economy, are well and truly over.”
READ MORE: Shutdown casualties and where they are
Agencies 9.40am: Ardern knocks back travel bubble with NSW, Victoria
New Zealand Prime Minister has dismissed speculation the country might open a travel bubble with NSW and Victoria, saying she expected state borders to reopen before a trans-Tasman bubble was established.
Queensland is under increasing pressure to open its borders, with Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham saying he would not allow fortified states to become an obstacle to the deal.
“New Zealand is obviously the first, and right now only, international market that we could safely agree to open up to,” he told Nine newspapers on Monday. “If New Zealand and some Australian states are ready and willing to progress, then the reluctance of other states to open up their domestic borders shouldn’t become an obstacle to progress.”
But Ms Ardern told Radio NZ: “The states haven’t opened up to each other yet. Obviously I would expect to see some of those issues resolved before we’d see them necessarily opening up to New Zealand and you can understand why.
“People want to be able to travel internally in Australia before they’d expect to be able to come across the ditch.”
NSW is encouraging interstate residents to travel to NSW for a holiday from June 1, when travel restrictions in the regions will be relaxed.
But apart from Victoria and the ACT, all other states and territories are maintaining a hard line approach, fearing a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said she will consider lifting travel restrictions at the end of the month, but warned the state’s borders could be shut until September.
Labor frontbencher Jim Chalmers said the sunshine state had been a success story in containing the virus.
“It’s come from the premier making difficult decisions based on the firm advice of the medical community,” the Queenslander told ABC radio.
“I think all of us want to see the borders safely reopened … something like every 10th job in my home state relies in one way or another on tourism.”
READ MORE: Queensland may be on constitutional borderline
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.35am: Mikakos: Work from home until end of June
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has said the state is in a “fantastic position” to begin easing restrictions but says she wants people to keep working at home until at least the end of June.
From Tuesday playgrounds and skateparks will be allowed to reopen, some students will be permitted to return to school.
Next Monday overnight trips will be allowed, museums and galleries can reopen and restaurants and cafes will be able to seat up to 20 patrons.
NOW | Health Minister @JennyMikakos joins us: "It's because everyone has done the right thing, followed all the rules, that we can now start to ease up on the restrictions. But we still have a long way to go. It's not over yet."
— 3AW Breakfast (@RossAndJohn) May 24, 2020
“It’s fantastic to be in this position … This has been because Victorians have made huge sacrifices, and I acknowledge that,” Ms Mikakos told 3AW in Melbourne.
“It’s because of everyone doing the right thing, following all the rules, that we can begin to ease restrictions.”
Ms Mikakos said the state’s transport system is preparing for an influx of passengers, but with no official passenger restrictions in place, she urged people to use “common sense” and try to work from home.
“Public transport has really stepped up the hygiene, they are cleaning a lot more, wiping down surfaces,” she said.
“We have to exercise common sense … you need to not travel if you’re unwell, practice good hygiene, cough into your elbow, and keep your distance from other passengers.
“The last thing we want are those big skyscrapers in the Melbourne CBD full of people.”
READ MORE: Salons reopen as states ease lockdown
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.30am: Queensland revises case count down
Queensland has reported a coronavirus case count decline of five after a “data cleanse” of the state’s total toll, bringing the total to 1056, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said.
Two cases that were reported on Saturday were reclassified as NSW cases and three cases in April and May were reclassified as “invalid.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the case revision was “good news” for the state as all students return to school full-time this morning, but she warned any student or teacher who is ill to stay at home.
“With back to school, it is really important that we observe one key message and that is if you are sick, stay at home,” she said.
“This applies to all students, teachers, anyone in the school environment, if you are sick please stay at home.”
Asked whether the NRL could feasibly resume allowing crowds at games by July, Ms Palaszczuk said the league was welcome to submit a COVID-safe plan.
“Look they can submit a plan in, it depends where we are,” she said.
“In July I think the road map says gatherings of 100 people but they can submit a plan and we will take each month as it comes.”
Ms Palaszczuk also said she has been in discussion with the hospitality industry about increasing the patron limit in venues at the end of the month.
READ MORE: Who lost livelihoods and where
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.20am: Ardern shaken, not stirred by quake
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was forced to momentarily pause a live interview when interrupted by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake.
Ms Ardern was giving her daily interview to the AM Show when the earthquake hit Wellington – but the Prime Pinister was relatively unshaken.
New Zealand hit with a 5.8 earthquake (no damage yet reported) while PM Ardern is doing a TV interview.
— CRT (@StoryofEverest) May 24, 2020
I’d praise her coolness under pressure, but I just assume the very earth itself knows not to mess with her at this point and stopped out of respect. pic.twitter.com/dH5N4JCTo4
“We’re just having a bit of an earthquake here, Ryan,” Ms Ardern told host Ryan Bridges, as the scenery began to shake.
“Quite a decent shake here, if you see things moving behind me.
“The Beehive moves a little more than most,” Ms Ardern said, referring to the distinctive New Zealand Parliamentary building.
When asked by Mr Bridges if she was in a position to continue the interview, Ms Adern responded:
“We’re fine Ryan, I’m not under any hanging lights.”
The strong Monday morning earthquake was centred 30km north west of Levin, a town around an hour’s drive north of the New Zealand capital.
It was felt most sharply around the South Taranaki Bight, and the closest city, Wellington, some 100 kilometres south.
Tens of thousands of Kiwis reported feeling weak rattling as far north as Auckland and as far south as Dunedin, in the South Island.
In the capital, it brought sustained shaking for around 15 seconds as Kiwis prepared for their day at 7.53am NZST.
The earthquake was 37km deep according to seismic monitoring agency GMS Science.
READ MORE: ‘This virus doesn’t want to kill us’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.05am: Cormann knocks back expanding JobKeeper
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has knocked back suggestions the government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme will be expanded to workers who missed out after it was revealed Treasury overestimated the cost of the scheme by $60 billion.
“The Jobkeeper program is working as intended,” Senator Cormann told ABC Radio National on Monday.
“I reject this proposition that the initial estimate, taken at a different time … was somehow a ceiling, or a cap, or a target.
“We’re giving appropriate levels of support, indeed, to those who are unemployed.”
Senator Cormann said the revised forecast would be beneficial to the government’s bottom line.
“Well there’s no such thing as free money and indeed we want the economy to grow as strong as possible, as soon as possible, but also to grow sustainably over the medium to long term.
“We should try and keep the level of debt to the lowest amount possible … that debt will have to be paid back.”
Earlier on Monday morning treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the scheme could be expanded to industries that are particularly struggling, such as the tourism industry, after a review of the scheme in June.
“When it comes to JobKeeper, we’ll be undertaking a review in the month of June, Michael, and we’ll look at how it’s been implemented, what’s happening in various sectors,” he said.
“The tourism sector could be one sector in need of further support. That’s what we’ll look at in the context of the economic situation at the time.
“You’ll continue to see our international borders closed for some time.”
READ MORE: Now we realise lockdown was the easy bit
Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.35am: Few new cases but ‘too early for footy crowds’
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth has provided further information about the number of new coronavirus cases, revealing there have been six new cases overnight – three in Victoria, two in NSW, and one in Queensland.
Despite the low case growth, Dr Coatsworth said we cannot afford to become complacent.
“I mean I think we have to give ourselves a pat on the back, as a nation for the way we’ve come together with this and the way we’ve followed what the government has said and the health advice,” he told Today on Monday.
“We have just got a long way to go and whilst we can relax the restrictions it doesn’t imply a relaxing of the behaviours.
Dr Coatsworth also said it was “too early” to tell if the NRL and AFL’s plans to have crowds is possible.
“My son’s an Eagles fan. He’s really looking forward to seeing them play again. Whether we will be able to do that in person, (in) step three of our plan, only has gatherings of 100 people, that does not footy crowd make,” he said.
“It’s too early for us to look forward and see whether we will have crowds at games in July. If we got to that point that would be amazing, but I would be saying that that’s quite early.”
Stage three restriction easing begins in July and permits gatherings of up to 100 people in a public place.
READ MORE: Alcohol industry suffers virus hangover
Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.05am: School’s back, but different
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell says the state’s public schools are prepared for the return of all students to face-to-face learning – but it won’t be business as usual.
“It will look different. No big assemblies, sporting competition and no parent volunteers,” Ms Mitchell told Today on Monday.
“We have to live with COVID and the schools will look different – the most important thing we can get back to the teaching and learning in the classroom.”
Students in NSW and Queensland will be marked absent from today if parents choose to keep them home from school. Is this fair? #9Today pic.twitter.com/CtgYOyZFO3
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) May 24, 2020
Schools have received extra cleaning supplies and will be sanitised regularly. Social distancing will also apply to adults on school grounds.
“We have the additional high general measures in place and guidelines around social distancing for adults on school sites,” Ms Mitchell said.
“We have measures for any of our teachers who might be over a certain age or have a health condition that is concerning them in line with the health advice.”
Children can no longer learn from home and must attend school, unless they are sick.
“There’s rules in NSW, we need to have children enrolled and attending school,” Ms Mitchell said.
“We’re saying to parents we will be marking rolls. We will follow up any unexplained absences.
“We want you to keep your kids at home if they’re not well. Other than that it’s back to normal and usual attendance.”
READ MORE: Learning toll revealed as classes return
Agencies 8.00am: US bans travellers from Brazil
The White House on Sunday broadened its travel ban against countries hard-hit by the coronavirus by denying admission to foreigners who have been in Brazil during the two-week period before they hoped to enter the US.
Donald Trump had already banned travel from the UK, Europe and China. He said last week that he was considering similar restrictions for Brazil.
The US leads the world in the number of confirmed cases, followed by Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country. Third on the list is Russia. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany cast Trump’s latest move as one designed to “protect our country.” The ban on travel from Brazil takes effect late Thursday. As with the other bans, it does not apply to legal permanent residents. A spouse, parent or child of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident also would be allowed to enter the country.
Brazil has reported more than 347,000 COVID-19 cases, according to a Johns Hopkins University count. It also has recorded more than 22,000 deaths, fifth- most in the world.
The U.S. has the highest number of infections, at more than 1.6 million, and has seen more than 97,000 deaths.
READ MORE: Owners queried over luxury resort
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.45am: Country can keep reopening: Coatsworth
Australia’s single-digit number of coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours is a sign the country can continue to open up, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth has said.
“I think we can be very confident with the numbers,” Dr Coatsworth told Sunrise on Monday.
“We’ve talked about flattening the curve, there are single digit cases in the past 24 hours, which means that we are in a position to do, as we just heard, to get schools back, to steadily increase the number of people on public transport.”
Dr Coatsworth said it was appropriate for beauty salons to reopen in NSW from June 1 with appropriate precautions and even welcomed the reopening of gyms in Victoria from next week, saying it is time for Australians to begin exercising again.
“My view is simply if you are an avid gym goer in your state and territory the gyms are open, please stay at home if you are unwell,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“That is critically important. There are high touch points in gyms of course and I’m sure gymnasiums themselves will be making the appropriate sanitiser and wipes are there to keep people safe as possible.”
“Equally, with cases only in single digits, on a daily basis now … we need to start doing the other things that make us healthy.”
READ MORE: Nation headed into long recession: Poll
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.30am: Fitzgibbon digs in over China comments
Opposition spokesman for agriculture and resources Joel Fitzgibbon has defended comments he made last week accusing the government of “demonising” China and its system of government and saying the push for an inquiry into coronavirus’s origin in China was unnecessary, maintaining that he is simply looking out for the interests of his electorate
"David Littleproud overreached"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) May 24, 2020
Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon (@FitzHunter) responds to calls for him to be sacked over controversial comments about Australia's handling of the coronavirus crisis and China. pic.twitter.com/IsiKHMXW8d
“What I’ve been doing is standing up for Australia’s national interest and the interest of workers,” Mr Fitzgibbon told Sunrise on Monday.
“Farmers, meat process workers, people that have been affected by China’s decisions will be affected, including those in the coal mining sector obviously critical to my electorate.
“I represent the resources and agriculture sector in terms of my portfolio.
“They are on the frontline of this issue and I am standing up for them.”
Mr Fitzgibbon rubbished comments from agriculture minister David Littleproud, who said Mr Fitzgibbon should get the sack for his comments on China, something Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce also disagreed with.
“I understand where Joel is coming from,” Mr Joyce told Sunrise, adding that Australia should let the US take the front foot in dealing with China.
“We can’t have meat workers out of a job.
We have to make sure the US is the lead agency dealing with these issues.
“We have to be a participant. We have to agree with freedom, we can’t get too far out in front or we will get hurt.”
READ MORE: Adviser’s secret link to China deal
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.20am: Hanson vows to push on with borders challenge
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has vowed to push ahead with her Constitutional challenge against Queensland’s decision to keep their state borders closed to domestic travel until possibly September, saying she is meeting with Solicitors again today.
Senator Hanson is challenging Queensland’s border rules on the basis it is unconstitutional under section 92 of the Australian Constitution, which guarantees the right of free movement between Australian states.
The High Court has previously ruled that a public health reason is a valid exception to the law – but only if the response is “proportional.”
“I’ve been talking to the solicitors over the weekend and actually I’ll be talking to them again this morning,” Senator Hanson told Today on Monday.
“It is quite involved. More so than I thought to get it going. But anyway, that needs to be all mapped out.
“But we’re hoping to get it up in the courts as soon as possible.
“She needs to be held to account and I hope some other Queenslanders will get behind me and back me with this. Because we can’t allow her to continue on down this path.”
Senator Hanson also hit out at Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews for defending his state’s decision to sign up to China’s Belt and Road trade program in defiance of federal government advice.
“It makes me so mad that these governments can make these decisions and they might be there for the short-term in government, but it carries over for decades to come, that the public are paying it back,” she said.
“I hope the people of Victoria really understand what they’re getting into and allowing Daniel Andrews to actually do this.
“I believe that the Federal Government, in such a big thing as this, allowing China in, that I wish the Federal Government would step in and hit it on the head. He’s got to be accountable to someone.”
READ MORE: Queensland may be on constitutional borderline
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Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.10am: Frydenberg turns down Senate appearance request
Josh Frydenberg has said he will not appear before the Senate Committee on COVID-19 to explain how the expense of the JobKeeper scheme could have been overstated by $60 billion after being asked to by Labor, calling the request a “political stunt” and saying he is accountable for his department in the House of Representatives only.
On Friday, Mr Frydenberg revealed the JobKeeper wage subsidy, originally expected to cover more than six million furloughed workers at a cost of $130 billion, will cover just over three million workers at a cost of $70 billion.
Chair of the Senate Committee Katy Gallagher and opposition spokeswoman for foreign affairs Penny Wong on Sunday requested the Treasurer appear before the Committee and provide an explanation as to how the mistake occurred, saying he is accountable for mistakes made by Treasury.
But Mr Frydenberg said the move was not necessary.
“You know this is just a political stunt from the Labor Party,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC News on Monday.
“When they were last in government, they accepted the convention which is that House of Representatives ministers do not appear before Senate committees.
“I’m accountable in the House of Representatives for my department and for my portfolio.
I continue to have great confidence in the work that’s done by my wonderful department.”
Mr Frydenberg also ruled out using the miscounted $60 billion to make “wholesale” changes to the Jobkeeper scheme, but did not rule out extending assistance to sectors particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus economic downturn.
“When it comes to JobKeeper, we’ll be undertaking a review in the month of June, Michael, and we’ll look at how it’s been implemented, what’s happening in various sectors,” he said.
“The tourism sector could be one sector in need of further support. That’s what we’ll look at in the context of the economic situation at the time.
“You’ll continue to see our international borders closed for some time.”
Mr Frydenberg also said the expanded JobSeeker unemployment payment would not remain at its higher rate, saying it was always meant to be in place for “a temporary period of time.”
READ MORE: Economic lifeline working in unique crisis
Daniel Sankey 7.00am: Frydenberg: Palaszczuk costing her state jobs
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has again piled pressure on Annastacia Palaszczuk to open Queensland’s borders, saying she was costing the state jobs by ignoring official advice from health experts.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Mr Frydenberg said he could not see any reason why Queensland’s border should remain closed.
“If that state border was not closed, no doubt you would see many people from the south go up to the north for a holiday and that would create more jobs in Queensland,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“That’s a multi-billion dollar industry in Queensland and keeping those borders closed is going to be hindering the recovery of Queensland’s tourism sector.
“The Deputy Chief Medical Officer said there was no reason from a medical perspective as to why those borders should be closed. If you open those domestic borders you’ll see more jobs in Queensland, you’ll see a stronger tourism sector and you’ll obviously see a stronger national economy overall.”
Mr Frydenberg said while Treasury would review the JobKeeper program in June, there would not be wholesale changes to the eligibility criteria for the scheme.
“There will be some sectors, like tourism, that will face ongoing challenges because those international borders will remain closed for some time. But the fastest way to get people back into work is through the lifting of the restrictions, and the National Cabinet agreed to those three stages of the lifting of the restrictions, and the estimate was that would see 850,000 people back in work.”
READ MORE: Palaszczuk exploits fear to save jobs – hers
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.55am: Passenger limits tested with return to work, school
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance has urged commuters and students returning to school full-time to respect new passenger limits on public transport, with scores of extra transport workers deployed to help marshall crowds at major transport interchanges.
Last week the NSW government announced limits of 12 passengers on buses, 32 on train carriages and 245 on the Manly ferry.
The new limits are not covered by a public health order and cannot be enforced, which Mr Constance said means commuters using their “common sense.”
“We don’t have a public health order over the transport network,” he told Today on Monday.
“But we need everybody to apply a bit of common sense. Work with our operators. I wouldn’t get on a crowded bus if I saw a crowded bus. I don’t want to get COVID and I want everybody to be mindful of that.
“We need everybody to work together, show a bit of kindness. The 1.5m applies on public
transport for a reason.”
“We just need to be sensible about it.”
READ MORE: Extra staff to enforce rules on buses, trains
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.45am: Russia records highest daily death toll
The coronavirus pandemic in Russia may be reaching its peak, with the country on Sunday reporting its highest one-day death toll and its lowest number of new infections in three weeks.
The nation’s national coronavirus task force said that 153 people died of the disease in the 24 hours to Sunday, beating the previous daily high of 150.
The number of new infections was 8,599, bringing the total number of cases to 344,481 – the third highest in the world, while the death toll is a comparatively low 3541.
The low mortality rate has caught the attention of those in the Western media and some have suggested the data may be manipulated.
Russian officials have denied this assertion, saying their method of recording cause of death is “exceptionally precise.”
“We never manipulate official statistical data,” said Tatiana Golikova, the country’s top health official earlier this month.
Health data from Moscow shows that the death of around 60 per cent of coronavirus patients was attributed to other causes after an autopsy.
READ MORE: Australian scientist close to vaccine
Lachlan Moffet Gray6.35am:No new cases in Tasmania
Tasmania on Sunday night recorded no further cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, with the state case toll remaining at 226.
There are 11 active cases in the state, four of which are being treated in hospitals although none are in ICU.
The number of recoveries remains at 202. 13 people have died and just shy of 25,000 tests have been conducted in the state.
Today many Tasmania students will return to school, as will their counterparts in NSW and Queensland/
Tasmanian kindergarten to Year Six students, along with Year 11 and 12 students, will resume face-to-face learning on Monday, before children in Years 7 to 10 join them on June 9.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff says there will be lots of soap and hand sanitiser on hand as children return, and schools will be thorough cleaned. Social distancing measures such as staggered pick up and drop off times will also be in place.
“Schools will be managing the social distancing aspects rigorously … it’s not always possible in schools of course, but I know staff have been working very hard,” Mr Rockliff told reporters on Sunday.
READ MORE: Economic lifeline working in unique crisis
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.25am: US set to restrict travel to Brazil
The US Government is likely to restrict travel to the coronavirus-stricken South American nation of Brazil, National Security Adviser Robert O’ Brien has said.
Coronavirus cases and deaths have skyrocketed in recent weeks to make it the second-most infected nation behind the US, with 347,398 confirmed cases and the sixth-most deaths globally, at 22,013.
The US has more than 1.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and the death toll is 97,495.
Mr O’Brien said there would be a decision made on whether to restrict arrivals from Brazil on Sunday.
“We hope that’ll be temporary, but because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” Mr O’Brien told Face of the Nation, adding that travel restrictions on other southern hemisphere countries will be considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
The US has not instituted a broad ban on international arrivals as Australia has, currently restricting only arrivals from Europe and China.
Despite the restrictions, Mr O’Brien said that Mr Trump was still willing to make an exception to ensure an in-person meeting of the heads of the G7 nations can go ahead at Camp David as planned.
“We’ll make sure everybody’s tested. We’ll make sure that it’s a safe environment if the leaders can come here,” he said.
“It’s the chance for the leaders of the democracies of the free enterprise countries to get together and decide how to get their economies reopened and how we can work together to make sure we all come out of this COVID crisis and bring back health and peace and prosperity to our peoples.”
READ MORE: Misery loves company but it’s not party time
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.20am: France, Spain, Italy, ease restrictions
The number of new coronavirus cases in France has had its lowest daily increase since the country went into lockdown in March, the health ministry says.
On Sunday the number of new infections recorded was just 115 – or a 0.1 per cent increase to 144,921 cases.
However, the number of patients in hospital with the disease increased by seven to 17,185 after falling every day since April 15.
The number of coronavirus deaths in France is 28,219.
Italy also hit a new benchmark, recording just 50 deaths on Monday as compared to 119 on Sunday, the state Civil Protection Agency said.
However, deaths from the coronavirus-ravaged area of Lombardy were not included due to technical difficulties.
The daily tally of new cases declined to 531 on Sunday from 669 on Saturday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 32,785, the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.
The Civil Protection Agency said the total number of confirmed cases in Italy since the start of its outbreak now amounts to 229,858, the sixth highest global tally behind those of the United States, Russia, Spain, Britain and Brazil. People registered as currently carrying the illness dipped to 56,594 on Sunday from 57,752 the day before.
Beaches throughout the country were due to reopen on Monday but were opened early in many regions.
Images on television of southern Italy showed beaches in Sicily, for example, were packed and few sunbathers were wearing protective masks. In Rome, Naples, Genoa and other cities, young people headed to bars in the evenings and many stood in groups without observing social distancing measures or wearing face masks.
READ MORE: Kremlin prepares public for bad news
Jacquelin Magnay 5.30am: Fury grows over Johnson adviser’s lockdown breach
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has inflamed public acrimony by refusing to sack his political Adviser Dominic Cummings for breaking stringent lockdown rules.
Mr Johnson doubled down on support for his key strategist, stepping in at the last minute at the daily COVID-19 press conference overnight (AEST)to assure the public that after extensive face-to-face talks, he had come to the conclusion that Mr Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity”.
Mr Johnson added: “I think he followed the instincts of any father and any parent, and I don’t mark him down for that.”
The political crisis was sparked when eye witnesses reported Mr Cummings had driven his sick wife and four-year-old son 430km from his London home to County Durham to recover from coronavirus at his father’s property in late March — a time when there were strict bans on any travel except for medical needs or to get to the shops.
Downing Street said Mr Cummings — the chief architect of the Brexit campaign, the mastermind behind Mr Johnson’s election strategies and the most powerful unelected person in the government — went to the property to access child care.
However eye witnesses have told British newspapers that Mr Cummings was also seen 13 days later near Barnard Castle, 50km away and walking with his wife.
There was another report that on April 19 he was spotted again near Durham, after having returned to London.
While Mr Johnson said some of the new reports “did not remotely correspond with reality”, the public mood was one of fury about an apparently rule change for Mr Cummings.
“This was a test of the Prime Minister and he has failed it,” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said.
READ MORE: Jacquelin Magnay — PM’s top aide breached lockdown
Richard Ferguson 5.15am: NZ, Canada pressured to lock out Huawei
Britain has followed Australia and the US in moving to lock out Chinese telco Huawei from its 5G network as two top US foreign policy figures stood behind the Scott Morrison government and accused China of trying to intimidate Australia.
The decision by Britain to freeze out Huawei within three years has bolstered calls by Australia and the US to ban Huawei from the networks of its Five Eyes security allies and shifts pressure on to Canada and New Zealand to block any involvement by the Chinese telecommunications giant in their 5G rollouts.
Australia, which banned Huawei from its local 5G network in August 2018, has led an international push with the US to block the company from rolling out critical telecom infrastructure on security grounds.
Mr Morrison also confirmed the government had directly raised concerns with Beijing last week over China’s plan to introduce national security legislation that would tighten its controls over Hong Kong.
Read the full story, by Richard Ferguson and Geoff Chambers, here.
Damon Johnston 5am: Daniel Andrews adviser linked to China deal
A pro-Chinese company was promoting the Belt and Road Initiative to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews while at the same time being paid by the Andrews government to provide advice on the controversial investment and trade deal.
Mr Andrews’s office confirmed the Melbourne-based Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative company was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts in 2017-18 and 2019-20 totalling $36,850 to advise on China’s global commercial play.
The organisation was set up five years ago by young former Chinese television journalist Jean Dong.
Ms Dong, now 33, was present at the signing of the Australia-China free-trade agreement in 2015 and recruited former federal Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb and former Labor finance minister Lindsay Tanner to the company’s advisory board.
Read the full story, by Damon Johnston and Rachel Baxendale, here.
Natasha Robinson 4.45am: Scientist who believes virus lab-grown tests vaccine
An Adelaide professor who believes the coronavirus could have been grown in a laboratory before crossing into humans hopes to be the first scientist in Australia to test his COVID-19 vaccine candidate on human volunteers.
Professor of medicine at Flinders University in Adelaide Nikolai Petrovsky is about to inject into humans a COVID-19 vaccine that he has developed in an attempt to induce an immune response in 75 volunteers. The Adelaide tests will be one of the first of their kind, Phase 1 trials, in Australia.
Professor Petrovsky’s views, published in a research paper that made headlines around the world, on the possibility of a lab origin to the virus have been rejected by many in the scientific community but he said many were too quick to dismiss it.
“We’re not saying it’s a likely possibility, we’re just saying it has to be considered as a possibility,” Professor Petrovsky said.
“It shouldn’t be a political question; it’s a scientific question.”
Read the full story here.
Dutton shrugs off new Labor scare campaign
Labor will launch the start of federal parliament for 2025 with a multi-broadcast scare campaign against Peter Dutton, as the Opposition Leader signalled he would not accept a public service workforce above 200,000.
Queensland cans hydrogen pipe dream
Australia’s largest green hydrogen project has collapsed, with Queensland’s Crisafulli government pulling funding from construction of the $12.5bn plant and pipeline in Gladstone.