Coronavirus Australia live news: Loan deferrals hit $250bn for businesses, households
There is growing pressure for replacement policies to pull the economy back from a cliff in September when the deferrals expire.
- Loan deferrals hit $250bn
- WA plunges to recession
- RBA chief: JobKeeper may need extension
- Victim’s tests return contradictory results
- Infected nurse faces new questions
- US toll passes 100,000
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. WA is headed for recession as covid puts a $1.8bn hole in the state’s finances. RBA chief Philip Lowe says the JobKeeper scheme may need to be extended. The mystery over how Australia’s youngest victim contracted the disease deepens with his tests returning contradictory results and contacts testing negative. The US has passed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths.
AFP 8.50pm Putin invites world leaders to visit next month
Russia is co-ordinating with countries including France to invite their leaders to attend a massive military parade in Moscow on June 24, the Kremlin says.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced the annual May 9 Victory Day parade would held in June after postponing the event last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
He said it was possible to reschedule the event because Russia had passed the peak of the pandemic.
The new date of June 24 is 75 years after the first victory parade in Red Square following Germany’s surrender to Soviet commanders on May 9.
“It’s quite a short period for compiling the schedules of international leaders,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, adding invitations would be “coordinated on a case-by-case basis”.
“This will be co-ordinated with each country individually.”
Moscow was already in touch with France, hr said.
Mr Peskov said invitations to several former Soviet countries were being renewed and Kyrgyzstan on Thursday confirmed its president would attend, TASS news agency reported.
After peaking in mid-May at more than 11,000 new coronavirus cases per day, the number of daily infections in Russia has dropped below 9000.
The country has the third-highest number of cases at 379,051 after the US and Brazil.
READ MORE: Virus case confusion tarnishes state
Paul Garvey 7.50pm Vet on sheep ship slams WA Premier
The Australian veterinarian from the sheep ship responsible for Western Australia’s latest coronavirus outbreak has slammed the Premier and police commissioner over the handling of the saga, accusing the latter of “propagating fear” about the virus
Dr Herbert ‘Reb’ Rebhan is among dozens of crew from the Al Kuwait ship now in isolation in a Perth hotel. Some 12 crew have tested positive to coronavirus since the ship’s arrival in Fremantle last week, driving a spike in the number of active cases in WA.
Speaking to The Australian, the doctor criticised Premier Mark McGowan and police commissioner Chris Dawson for suggesting the ship knew there were cases of coronavirus on board before it arrived at Fremantle and that the crew posed a threat to the WA community.
“For Premier McGowan to suggest we knowingly brought coronavirus in, that’s very harmful and hurtful to suggest we deliberately put other people at risk,” Dr Rebhan said.
“He’s making political hay out of that and it’s wrong.”
The ship’s arrival also triggered a war of words between Mr McGowan and federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud after the Premier said the federal Department of Agriculture and Border Force had failed to pass on information about illnesses on board the ship.
Mr McGowan had to later acknowledge that the WA Health Department had received an email before the Al Kuwait docked at Fremantle.
The Al Kuwait and its crew had been at sea since March 4, with its crew remaining on board throughout as a result of quarantine restrictions introduced around the world. The crew had worn protective gear and maintained distance from those onshore during the loading and unloading of cattle, Dr Rebhan said, adding he believed the virus must have found its way on board through supplies delivered to the ship.
He said the four crew who initially showed symptoms were all fit to work when the vessel docked at Fremantle.
“Everybody in the medical profession would know that antibiotics do not cure viruses, they do not speed the resolution of viral conditions. And we had such a rapid response to the antibiotic therapy that it led me to believe that the sinusitis, the sore throats were bacterial in origin,” he said.
“We never had the chronic dry coughing, we never had guys complaining of trouble breathing. The number one and two signs of coronavirus were completely absent.”
Dr Rebhan, who will turn 61 next week, said only a small segment of the population was vulnerable to coronavirus and said he had no fears about contracting it.
“I’m not worried about it whatsoever. Bring it on. I want to have an immune system, I want to provide immunity to the community,” he said.
READ MORE: NRL celebrates season restart with new TV deal
Yoni Bashan 7.15pm NSW eases limits on funerals, weddings and worship
Up to 50 people will be permitted to attend funerals and places of worship from Monday, and up to 20 people will be able to attend weddings, under a further easing of social restrictions to be announced by the NSW Government on Friday.
The decision to lift restrictions for funerals and religious services will bring both into line with restaurants and bars, though NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said congregants would need to continue abiding by a strict four-square-metre rule and other guidelines to prevent a re-emergence of infections.
“It is crucial that worshippers remember to follow health advice,” Ms Berejiklian said. “This is particularly important for people with co-morbidities aged over 65 and people aged over 70.”
READ MORE: Why Zoom is exhausting
Victoria Laurie 5.49pm: WA cases spike as Al Kuwait crew test positive
Western Australia has seen a spike in new cases of COVID-19 after more crewmen from a livestock carrier ship berthed in Fremantle tested positive.
There were seven new cases reported overnight, bringing the state’s total to 577.
Of the seven new cases, six are crew members from the ship Al Kuwait and one is a returned overseas traveller who is already in hotel quarantine.
There are now 18 active cases in Western Australia. Of those, one is a Western Australian, five are from interstate and 12 are from the Al Kuwait.
Three of the new Al Kuwait cases tested positive while still on board the ship and are being transferred to hotel quarantine. The other three crew members who tested positive are already in hotel quarantine after disembarking the ship yesterday.
Two more crew members are being transferred from the ship into hotel quarantine as they had close contact with infected crew. It is expected the number of infected crew may rise as more individuals will be tested in the next day.
The Al Kuwait docked in Fremantle a week ago to load 56,000 sheep for live export to Kuwait and other Middle Eastern ports.
The ship’s arrival in port and the discovery of COVID-19 among its crew caused tension between Premier Mark McGowan and federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, with each blaming the other for lack of appropriate action.
An International Transport Federation ship inspector said a total of 48 crew members, including an Australian vet and a stockman, were happy with their treatment despite the outbreak.
The crew is largely made up of Croatian, Indian and Philippine nationals.
To date, 550 people have recovered from the virus in WA, following one additional recovery overnight.
There are no confirmed COVID-19 patients in Perth hospitals. Yesterday 974 people presented to WA COVID-19 clinics, and of these 903 were assessed and 882 were swabbed.
To date there have been 83,318 COVID-19 tests performed in WA. Of those, 14,079 tests were carried out in regional WA.
READ MORE: Premier admits to ‘errors all round’
AAP 4.54pm: Ardern hints at when trans-Tasman travel could resume
Jacinda Ardern has given her strongest indication yet of when regular trans- Tasman travel may resume, listing September as a realistic time frame. Her comments echo those of an expert working group set up to lay the groundwork for the resumption of business-as-usual flights.
However, the PM’s deputy Winston Peters believes flights should be taking off from New Zealand to lesser-impacted regions of Australia – such as Tasmania and the Northern Territory – immediately.
Ms Ardern has pushed back against growing expectations of a ‘trans-Tasman bubble’, arguing the country’s border controls have been a key plank in the government’s goal of eliminating the virus.
On Thursday, health officials announced a sixth consecutive day without a new case of COVID-19, but a 22nd death from the virus.
New Zealand has just eight active cases of the virus, and none requiring hospital-level care.
READ MORE: Border paranoia risks jobs revival
Angelica Snowden 4.29pm: Palaszczuk urged to ‘stop dithering’ on Qld borders
Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington has called on the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to “stop dithering” and open the state’s borders to kickstart the economy.
“The Premier said the borders would be open on the 10th of July and that is what the health advice directed her to do supposedly,” Ms Frecklington said on 2GB.
“Then our premier went out on a whim and said she was going to leave our borders shut until September or possibly later,” she said.
Ms Frecklington urged Ms Palaszczuk to allow visitors into the state because operators are “on their knees”.
“What I say to the Premier is what about all the families who have lost their jobs – they are the people who she should be worried about having sleepless nights,” she said.
“Queensland used to be this incredible powerhouse state but we need those tourism jobs and we need those tourism businesses firing on all cylinders if we want to kick start this economy again”.
READ MORE: Virus case confusion tarnishes state
Paul Garvey 4.18pm: Rocky start for Palmer’s High Court bid
Clive Palmer’s efforts to overturn Western Australia’s border closure have got off to a rocky start after the High Court ordered the billionaire’s legal team to amend its case.
High Court Chief Justice Susan Kiefel told the former MP’s legal team that they needed to clarify details of their case by 4pm Friday.
“Further work needs to be done on the statement of claim,” Chief Justice Kiefel said.
Mr Palmer is seeking a ruling from the High Court that Western Australia’s border closure – enacted as part of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic – is unconstitutional. Mr Palmer’s private company Mineralogy has launched a similar claim against Queensland, arguing that the border ban is hurting its business in that state.
Peter Dunning QC, representing Mr Palmer, told the court that WA’s border closure was an “over-response” to the pandemic and had a “protectionist effect” by commercially harming interstate-based businesses with operations in WA.
Mr Palmer’s key asset is his royalty over the Sino Iron mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The mine, owned by Chinese conglomerate Citic, generates more than $200 million a year in royalties for the magnate.
WA Police commissioner Chris Dawson, who has the power to grant exemptions to the border closure, formally denied Mr Palmer entry to the state earlier this month.
The matter continues.
READ MORE: Clive Palmer tests WA closure in High Court
Richard Gluyas 4.06pm: Customers ‘won’t be able to repay their loans'
The value of loan deferrals for businesses and households has hit $250bn, intensifying the pressure for replacement policies to pull the economy back from a cliff in September when the deferrals expire.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres told a Senate committee on Thursday that some customers would clearly be unable to repay their loans.
“But equally we don’t want to put pressure on a large group of customers at the wrong point of the cycle,” Mr Byres said.
“We often talk of the cliff, which is when everything ends in six months’ time.
READ MORE: Value of loan deferrals hits $250bn
Agencies 3.49pm: South Korea reports biggest jump in 50 days
South Korea on Thursday reported its biggest jump in coronavirus cases in more than 50 days, a setback that could erase some of its hard-won gains. Health officials warned that the resurgence is getting harder to track and social distancing and other steps need to be taken.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 67 of the 79 new cases reported were from the Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo called for residents in the metropolitan area to avoid unnecessary gatherings and urged companies to keep sick employees off work.
At least 69 infections so far have been linked to workers at a massive warehouse operated by local e-commerce giant Coupang. Hundreds of other infections have been linked to nightclubs and other entertainment venues, which saw huge crowds in early May after officials relaxed social distancing guidelines.
It remains to be seen whether the recent spike in infections force back a phased reopening of schools, which had been a major accomplishment in the nation’s antivirus campaign. The Education Ministry on Wednesday said class openings were delayed at 561 schools nationwide because of virus concerns. South Korea was reporting around 500 new cases per day in early March before managing to stabilise its outbreak with aggressive tracking and testing, which allowed officials to relax social distancing guidelines.
KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said the country may need to reimpose social distancing restrictions, noting it’s becoming increasingly difficult for health workers to track transmissions amid increasing public activity. “We will do our best to trace contacts and implement preventive measures, but there’s a limit to such efforts,” she said. “There’s a need to maximise social distancing in areas where the virus is circulating, to force people to avoid public facilities and other crowded spaces.”
READ MORE: Virus ‘not from lab or wet market’
Natasha Robinson 3.26pm: Researchers halt anti-malaria drug trial
Australian researchers have suspended patient recruitment in a major clinical trial of the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
The Doherty Institute announced the pause on the ASCOT trial, which was to involve 2000 patients with COVID-19 in Australia and internationally, following the publication of a study in the Lancet which casts doubt on the treatment.
The Lancet study found people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems, and that there was no benefit to treating coronavirus patients with the drug.
READ MORE: Researchers halt anti-malaria drug trial
David Penberthy 2.42pm: Paperwork snafu takes shine off SA
The shine has come off South Australia’s impressive management of the COVID-19 pandemic after the state’s chief medical officer suggested Victoria was to blame for letting an infected British woman arrive unannounced in SA, but then admitted later that SA Health had failed to read the paperwork.
In a shambolic 48 hours that has inflamed the state’s anxieties about lifting border restrictions, SA chief medical officer Professor Nicola Spurrier and the Marshall government have been under fire after it emerged that a British woman with COVID-19 was allowed to enter SA from Victoria on compassionate grounds to see her dying father.
As a result of her arrival, 19 of her “close contacts” are now in isolation in SA, and the state government has ordered a complete and indefinite ban on people entering the state on compassionate grounds if they are from overseas or have returned from overseas.
READ MORE: COVID case confusion tarnishes state
Paul Garvey 1.25pm: WA Treasurer pushes for JobKeeper extension
WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt has urged his federal counterpart to extend the JobKeeper program beyond its current September deadline, warning that the assistance was propping up around 5 per cent of the state’s workforce.
Speaking as he confirmed WA would enter recession this year, Mr Wyatt said he hoped to see the program taper off after September.
“I don’t think a hard end is actually in the Commonwealth’s interest, the state’s interest or Australia’s interest and hopefully they will end up with an alternate transition plan rather than a hard end,” Mr Wyatt said.
“I agree that JobKeeper is not here forever and we can’t afford to keep it forever, but I don’t think a hard end is practical or in the interests of the nation.”
Treasury modelling tabled in WA’s parliament on Thursday morning showed that the state expects its economy to contract by 5 per cent in the June quarter alone and a further 3 per cent in the 2021 financial year. The combined hit will suck around $12 billion out of the state’s economy.
WA’s unemployment rate sits at around 10-11 per cent and Mr Wyatt said JobKeeper was helping to keep that figure lower than would otherwise be the case.
“JobKeeper is working, I understand a lot of people have frustrations with it but it is working in keeping people connected to their employer. That’s why I think the Commonwealth will invariably come to a point where you can’t hard-end it.
“I get they want to come out of it so it’ll probably be more of a transition. Whether it’s industry-based or the figure starts to reduce over time, ultimately they will come to a point on that which hopefully will cushion as we come out of this.”
Mr Wyatt said the government was focused on bringing forward investment in infrastructure such as roads and rail that will create jobs quickly, as well as reforming regulations that will expedite investment in the private sector.
He said the state’s economic figures were unprecedented but would have been much worse if the government and the mining sector hadn’t agreed to keep the industry operating through the crisis.
“We are seeing some of the worst figures that anyone has seen in their lifetime, I never thought I’d see these kinds of figures as a treasurer, but where we were two months ago compared to where we were two months ago, I’m more optimistic and I fully expect ultimately if the success of the health response to COVID continues, and I expect that will, then the return to normal behaviour around our internal economy will certainly support that,” he said.
READ MORE: Ford develops virus heat blaster
Lachlan Moffet Gray 1pm: Thousands join petition on religious services
More than 6000 people have signed an online petition asking the NSW government to treat churches and religious services in the same manner as pubs and restaurants, with churches allowed just 10 worshippers while hospitality venues can have up to 50 from Monday.
Sydney Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher is prosecuting the case on behalf of religious groups and told 2GB the petition is “likely to get tens of thousands of people” to sign in the coming days.
Archbishop Fisher said that despite being in negotiation with the state government for two weeks, he is yet to hear “directly from the Premier.”
“We’re just looking for equal treatment, we’re not looking for special deals or special treatment,” he said, adding that the Catholic Church is taking many precautions to ensure coronavirus does not spread during worship.
“We’re going to put stickers on where people can sit, and put barriers up so they can’t sit in other places, we’re not going to be passing around collection plates or hymns books … we’ve told people they’ll be receiving communion in safe ways.”
Earlier on Thursday NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters that churches were being treated differently intentionally due to their role in spreading coronavirus.
Archbishop Fisher said he was confident 50 people could safely worship in a group and that to many, church was essential.
“For a lot of people, going to church, they would regard that as an essential service in their lives,” he said.
READ MORE: Premier won’t be pushed on borders
Paul Garvey 12.40pm: Covid blows $1.8bn hole in WA finances
Western Australian treasurer Ben Wyatt has confirmed the state will plunge into recession, with the coronavirus set to blow a $1.8 billion hole in the state’s revenues.
Mr Wyatt this morning tabled a preliminary assessment of the impact of the virus on the state’s finances, detailing how the economy would shrink in the coming financial year.
WA’s Gross State Product is now expected to contract by 5.1 per cent in the current quarter 2020, and a further 3.1 per cent contraction expected in 2020-21.
Mining royalties have held largely steady through the pandemic, with WA exempting the sector from conditions that have hurt other corners of the economy. But the government expects “significant downturns” for other revenue sources including GST grants, payroll tax, transfer duty, land tax and vehicle licence duty.
“These preliminary forecasts highlight that our state is not immune to the global economic shock caused by COVID-19, despite our strong health response to the pandemic,” Mr Wyatt said.
The government has announced targeted stimulus and measures aimed at boosting investment, although it has so far resisted calls for big-ticket reforms such as changes to stamp duty, land tax and the GST.
“Targeted investments have begun which aim to restore our economy to its growth trajectory as quickly as possible,” Mr Wyatt said. “In addition, reforms will be made to cut red tape, lift our growth potential and strengthen our economy.”
READ MORE: Virus doubles Mesoblast revenue
Lachlan Moffet Gray 12.25pm: NT takes key step for interstate visitors
The Northern Territory will ditch its mandatory monitored quarantine scheme for domestic arrivals in the top end from June 15, an important step towards the ultimate removal of the hard border with the rest of the country, Chief Minister Michael Gunner says.
“For arrivals from interstate we will transition from mandatory monitored quarantine to mandatory self quarantine,” Mr Gunner told reporters.
Mr Gunner said that residents of the territory who return from interstate will be able to self-quarantine in the home and visitors in a hotel of their choosing or a friend’s home, while overseas arrivals will still be subject to current regulations.
“Arrivals will be tested for coronavirus in the first 72 hours of their quarantine and in the final 72 hours of their quarantine,” Mr Gunner said, adding that police will conduct random spot checks and detain anyone who violates quarantine into supervised quarantine.
Mr Gunner said the relaxation was one of the “last boxes we need to tick” before the relaxation of the hard border with the rest of the country and that from mid-June, the government will review the border decision on a weekly basis.
READ MORE: Businesses adapt to covid challenge
Matthew Denholm 12.15pm: Premier rebuffs PM’s call to reopen border
Tasmania’s Premier and public health chief have both flatly rejected calls by the Prime Minister to immediately reopen state borders.
Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein said while the PM had done an “outstanding job” managing the coronavirus crisis, border reopening was not Scott Morrison’s call.
“The last time I looked, the Prime Minister wasn’t the director of public health in Tasmania, nor was he the Premier of Tasmania,” Mr Gutwein said.
“We will decisions that are in the best interests of Tasmanians. I thank him for his input but at the end of the day we’ll make the call on this one when it’s right for the state.”
He was backed by state Director of Public Health Mark Veitch, who said he and other state chief health officers had considered advice provided to national cabinet.
“But it is very much the case that each state, when it comes to borders, should and does make its own decision,” Dr Veitch said.
“They have to consider the circumstances of the state, the amount of disease that’s in that state, the amount of disease that’s in other states, and the measures that are available to control infections should they occur in our state.
“So the advice that I would provide to the Tasmanian government would take all of those factors into account. It will always be a decision that’s made with some mutual considerations by all of the states of Australia.”
Mr Gutwein stepped away from an earlier suggestion to The Australian that he would want to see at least 28 days of zero cases before reopening borders with any jurisdiction.
“A rough rule of thumb is terms of eradication is two full cycles (of the 14-day virus life cycle),” he said. “In terms of lifting or borders, we will obviously make decisions based on what is occurring in other states, but I doubt very much whether the rest of the country will get to eradication.
“So we will have to make decisions based on our capacity within the state to track and trace, respond and importantly where our health system is at.”
He expected to make a decision in early July on when the borders would reopen.
READ MORE: State tourism operators ‘anxious’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 12pm: Victoria trace infection point for ‘large household’
Victoria has confirmed 10 new cases of coronavirus overnight, bringing the state’s total to 1628, the state’s Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton says.
Six of the new cases are household contacts of previous cases – five from the same household – three are returned overseas travellers and the remaining case is a worker at the Rydges on Swanston Hotel where returned travellers are being held in quarantine.
There has been a reduction by 18 to the number of transmissions by an unknown source meaning 165, or around 10 per cent, of the state’s total confirmed case numbers originated from community transmission.
There are 61 remaining active cases in the state, eight of which are in hospital.
Dr Sutton said the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services is trying to discover for the initial infection point for the “large household” of six infections and that the staff member at the Rydges hotel, the second worker their to contract coronavirus, was a security guard with no direct contact with quarantined travellers.
Dr Sutton said all staff were being tested and that he was not worried about a cluster outbreak at the hotel.
READ MORE: Foreign students ‘a priority’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.50am: NSW Premier explains limits on churches
Churches and religious congregations are being treated differently to pubs and restaurants in the lifting of coronavirus regulations as they can more easily spread disease, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher wrote to the NSW government on Wednesday asking why there was a limit of 10 people on religious gatherings when the state was moving to lift the limit in hospitality venues to 50.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ms Berejiklian said religious gatherings were being treated differently as they have been a nexus of many cluster outbreaks of coronavirus overseas.
“If you look overseas as well, unfortunately congregations have been a major reason for the spread of infections overseas,” she said.
“And similarly here, if you recall, we had a number of examples in Ryde and elsewhere where, where congregations were the reason for that (virus transmission), she said in reference to a minor outbreak of the virus at the Sydney Church of Christ in the northern suburb.
“People will have to change things. For some religions, and some practices, it means changes practices that have been around for thousands, you know, 2000 years.
“Things will have to be done differently.”
READ MORE: Closed state faces $2bn hit
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.40am: Medical chief: mask-up but don’t get complacent
Wearing masks in public if you are ill or are in a crowded place is “reasonable” NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says.
Health authorities in Australia have largely avoided recommending mask use in public as a way of halting the spread of coronavirus, citing the lack of studies proving their benefits and the risk of mask-wearing leading to complacency in other areas of prevention, like handwashing.
However, health authorities like the US’s CDC and England’s Chief Medical Officer have recommended that individuals use cloth face coverings or masks to slow the spread of disease in public.
Dr Chant told 2GB on Thursday that in certain situations, wearing a mask would be a good idea. “Masks are really important if you’ve got illness, and when you’ve got illness we actually don’t want you out and about,” she said, adding that the only reason someone should leave home if feeling ill is to seek health advice.
Dr Chant said that areas where social distancing is difficult is another area where masks have utility. “If you choose to wear masks in particular place where you can’t adequately socially distance, then that’s a reasonable thing for you to consider to do,” she said.
However, Dr Chant did say that mask wearing can lead to complacency.
“People think I don’t need to physically distance, I don’t need to wash my hands,” she said, urging people to maintain vigilance.
READ MORE: Wage freeze ‘dead in the water’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.30am: Dutton says Qld should ease internal restrictions
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has ramped up attacks on Queensland border closures, saying the state must relax internal travel restrictions as well as their hard external borders to save tourism reliant-businesses.
Queensland currently has in place a 150km internal travel restriction for coastal communities and 500km for residents of rural areas.
“There are regional towns, not just along the coast … but inland … that rely on grey nomads and people spending money as they holiday,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.
“Eventually, I guess, people can travel to New Zealand but our international borders aren’t opening up for a long time yet and in the interim people do want to get out of their houses, they want to travel.”
Mr Dutton said that according to a Queensland Labor Party source, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk floated September as a possible date for easing external border restrictions because she is afraid a breakout before the October state election will hurt her chances of re-election.
“The only reason that September date came out is Labor is paranoid of having a breakout of COVID in QLD before the October election,” Mr Dutton said.
“If they are making decisions for political reasons, I think there will be fury amongst Queenslanders.”
READ MORE: Premier gets Gold Coast nod
Patrick Commins 11.20am: Critical point looms for economy: Lowe
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says the end of the JobKeeper, expanded JobSeeker and bank repayment deferrals, due to expire on September 30, is “clearly going to be a critical point for the economy”.
The country needed to “keep the fiscal stimulus going until the recovery is assured”.
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.15am: More than 100,000 in NSW rush to ‘upskill’
More than 100,000 people have signed up to NSW’s free “upskilling” TAFE course offered amid the pandemic, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says.
More than half of the upskilling students were in regional areas and the majority had not studied at TAFE before.
Ms Berejiklian said the program showed the NSW government’s dedication to creating jobs, a line of reasoning employed to justify a new initiative: freezing the wages of 400,000 public servants for 12 months to add $3 billion to the bottom line.
Ms Berejiklian urged crossbenchers in the NSW Upper House – where the government is in minority – to support the motion.
READ MORE: Rise of the ‘Queen of the cosmos’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 11.05am: NSW’s latest virus case is a Queenslander
NSW’s one new coronavirus case in the past 24 hours is “ironically, a Queenslander,” says NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The NSW Premier and her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk have been at loggerheads over the issue of state border closures, with Ms Berejiklian urging borders to open to help kickstart the domestic tourism industry.
However, Ms Palaszczuk says that she does not want to open her border until the transmission of coronavirus all but disappears in the southern states.
Ms Berejiklian said the COVID-positive Queenslander was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, and would be released to return home “as soon as it is safe to go home.”
READ MORE: Churches want to match pubs, clubs
David Rogers 11am: Labour market faces ‘scarring’, RBA chief says
Asked about his estimate of full employment, RBA Governor Philip Lowe says that in February he thought it was 4.5 per cent, but it could rise to 5 per cent because of economic scarring. “We know from past economic downturns that there is scarring in the labour market,” Dr Lowe said. “So I think it’s quite possible that the estimate of full employment rate of unemployment starts rising again to 5 per cent. “If we don’t get a decent recovery soon we will see scarring and the full-employment rate of unemployment will rise.”
READ MORE: Chance to create future together
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.55am: Dutton wants answers on Belt, Road program
Victoria should release all “correspondence” and “expectations” regarding its controversial agreement with China to sign up for the Belt and Road investment initiative, says Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews signed a memorandum of understanding with China regarding the deal – which would provide Chinese debt facilities for Victorian infrastructure projects – in 2018 just prior to a state election.
Last week the Victorian opposition obtained heavily redacted documents between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Victorian government from that time and called for the details to be made public, something the Andrews government has refused, saying it will “prejudice” the relationship between Victoria and the Commonwealth.
Mr Dutton said the Victorian had to be more transparent about the agreement in order to justify it to the public.
“I really am concerned about what Daniel Andrews is doing, I think most Australians are as well,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.
“We have got people in the Labor Party, including Penny Wong now expressing concern about what he has signed up to.
I don’t think it reflects the views of the Victorian public, let alone the broader Australian public.”
Mr Dutton said the deals had broad national security consequences and a state cannot start “hiving off from the rest of the country in terms of their values and approach.”
READ MORE: PM seeks Goldilocks formula
David Rogers 10.45am: Economy needs dynamism, Philip Lowe says
RBA Governor Philip Lowe says he fears that one of the “shadows” of the coronavirus is the possibility of an “even less dynamic economy” and that he can “see a real benefit” in increasing a sense of dynamism in the economy. “We want firms that are prepared to grow and invest and develop new ways of doing things,” he says in regard to the need to increase economic dynamism or productivity.
“It’s about providing a better standard of living for our kids. We have the capability as a nation to do this. Our fundamentals are fantastic.”
READ MORE: Two-track race for a vaccine
David Rogers 10.35am: RBA chief: JobKeeper might need ‘tapering’
RBA Governor Lowe says it’s “too early” to say if the economy will need more support in four months when the JobKeeper program is due to expire. But if it hasn’t come out of the current trough, there “should be a discussion” about how the JobKeeper wage subsidy “transitions into something else or is tapered”, Dr Lowe tells the Senate Select Committee into the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.
David Rogers 10.25am: Lowe: Risks if subsidy support withdrawn too early
RBA Governor Philip Lowe says there are “certain risks” for the economy if policy makers withdraw support too early. And if the economy is in need of greater support when the JobKeeper wages subsidy is due to expire in September, then policy makers “should be looking at an extension of that scheme or a modification”, Dr Lowe says.
Dr Lowe told a Senate hearing today the Australian economy has “tracked no worse than the base line and perhaps a little better than the base line” since the central bank finalised its economic scenarios in its Statement on Monetary Policy was finalised on May 7th.
In his opening remarks at the hearing today, Dr Lowe said that with earlier than expected reopening of the economy, it’s “entirely possible” that the economic downturn will not be as severe as first thought, but that depends how quickly confidence is restored and the pandemic may continue to “cast a shadow” over the economy.
READ MORE: Trading Day live blog
Rosemary Neill 10.20am: NGA to welcome visitors from June 2
It has been hit hard by the triple whammy of the summer bushfire crisis, a damaging hailstorm and coronavirus closures, but the nation’s flagship gallery, Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia, is to re-open on Tuesday after what director Nick Mitzevich called “a very disappointing’’ and “painful’’ period of unprecedented disruption.
In a candid interview, Mitzevich told The Australian that the past five months — which have seen the gallery twice shut its doors and forced the early closure of its blockbuster exhibition Matisse & Picasso — have been “very disappointing for us. I think it was probably more disappointing for the audience, because smoke, hail and now COVID-19 have been ravaging us since the 31st of December.’’
He revealed the gallery was “in discussions’’ with the Federal Government about securing emergency funds to deal with these setbacks, adding: “We will have to recalibrate, post-Covid.’’
READ the full story here
Lachlan Moffet Gray 10.10am: Half GPs ‘unable to access enough flu vaccines’
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has criticised the government’s distribution of flu vaccines a day after health minister Greg Hunt announced that a record 18 million vaccines will be made available for the flu season.
Mr Hunt said that 7.3 million vaccines have already been made available, but the RACGP says a survey of 1100 GPs revealed that half were unable to access adequate supply for their patients.
“The problem is with the distribution of the flu vaccine and it has been a problem for a long time. Every year we see the same issue – the vaccine comes too slowly to GP clinics and we don’t get enough of it for our patients,” RACGP president Dr Harry Nespolon said.
“This year we saw increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic … We need to fix this problem now.
“We don’t want to face it again next year, or the next time there’s a public health crisis and we need to urgently get vaccines to clinics across the country.”
READ MORE: Young or female? Virus odds are better
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.55am: Victim virus tests return contradictory results
A post-mortem evaluation of Nathan Turner will seek to clarify whether he had coronavirus at the time of his death after two coronavirus tests taken after his death produced conflicting results.
Mr Turner, 30, died on Tuesday afternoon in the central Queensland town of Blackwater after exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 for several weeks.
Two post-mortem tests were completed, one returning a positive result and one negative.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the amount of blood in the second, negative test impacted its effectiveness and said it was likely Mr Turner was COVID-19 positive.
“There was a test done on a gene excerpt, which is a very sensitive test, and it came back positive. So I believe it was a positive. We’ll be doing other tests, of course, under the Coroner’s direction to determine if we can get other information.”
Mr Turner’s diagnosis has raised questions over how he contracted the disease in a town that had no prior cases of the virus and which he had not left since February.
The one known coronavirus case to have visited the region – a Rockhampton aged care worker – did so at a time when Mr Turner was already displaying symptoms of the virus. The worker has also claimed she did not interact with anyone in the town.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Mr Turner’s live-in partner, who is now in isolation, has tested negative for the disease, as have Mr Turner’s close contacts.
Dr Young said further testing would take place in the town, on Mr Turner’s partner, and that the locality’s significant number of fly-in-fly-out mine workers would be “investigated as well.”
Dr Young urged Queenslanders in Blackwater and beyond to present for testing.
“Anyone who has any symptoms, no matter how mild they are – or, indeed, if they think they’ve got symptoms and they’re not sure, because we all know there are times when we might have an itchy nose or itchy throat or a runny nose, get tested,” she said.
“That is really, really important.”
READ MORE: ‘Life of the party’ found dead by partner
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.20am: Nathan Turner contacts test negative
The mystery over how Australia’s youngest coronavirus victim contracted the disease has deepened with the Queensland government revealing that almost 50 tests carried out of residents and close contacts of Mr Turner failed to return a single positive result.
Mr Turner died with coronavirus on Tuesday in the town of Blackwater, which has had no prior cases of COVID-19.
Queensland Health Authorities have identified 20 close contacts of Mr Turner, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said, with 18 returning negative test results and the remaining two to be tested today.
Additionally, 31 residents were tested at the Blackwater hospital, returning negative results.
Mr Miles said further testing would take place in the town today.
“Ninety five people are booked to be tested today,” he told reporters.
“We are opening a third fever clinic at the Blackwater Rodeo Grounds. We have a capacity to test more than 400 now there in Blackwater.”
Health authorities are still trying to establish if a Rockhampton aged care worker who had coronavirus and travelled to the town while infectious is responsible for Mr Turner’s infection, despite the worker claiming she had no contact with anyone in the town, and the trip occurring while Mr Turner was displaying symptoms of the virus.
“My advice via the Chief Health Officer is that the timing of that trip means it’s unlikely that she is the source of the infection, but it’s possible and so they’re continuing to work through that,” Mr Miles said.
Mr Miles said that outside of the case of Mr Turner, the coronavirus situation in Queensland was still positive, with the state recording no new cases in the past 24 hours.
The confirmed case toll remains at 1058, with only six active cases remaining.
Four of the cases are being treated in hospital, one of whom is in ICU.
READ MORE: Youngest victim named was former coal miner
Lachlan Moffet Gray 9.00am: SA premier defends allowing infected traveller in
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has defended the decision of health authorities to let a COVID-positive traveller into the state to visit her father on compassionate grounds, saying she had little chance of passing the virus on to anyone else in the state.
On Wednesday South Australia’s weeks-long stretch without a coronavirus case was broken when it allowed a British woman in her 50s into the state to visit her father even though she had served just one out of the mandatory two week period for international arrivals in Melbourne.
She tested positive on arrival at Adelaide airport, becoming the state’s 440th case.
“It wasn’t as if she was coming to Adelaide and was going to be wandering around,” Mr Marshall told Today.
“In fact, we put together a program. We have done this before on compassionate grounds where she would be monitored.
“She would come in, she would be in isolation, she would visit her loved one and remain secluded from the people of South Australia on the way in and around our city.”
Mr Marshall said the early detection of the woman showed why a strict border regime was necessary to maintain until infection rates decrease in other states.
“We’ve been able to remove the ban on elective surgery, remove the ban on dentistry, open up the playgrounds, and for regional travel … South Australia and we can only do that because we have very low or no numbers in South Australia,” he said.
“As soon as you open up the borders you can only move as fast as the slowest jurisdiction and that means tens of thousands wouldn’t be going back to work.”
READ MORE: Premier admits to ‘errors all round’
Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.50am: Nurse faces more questions over Blackwater death
Queensland health authorities are planning to speak again to a Rockhampton nurse who travelled to Blackwater in the weeks before a coal miner in the town became the nation’s youngest coronavirus victim.
Authorities are still scrambling to find out how Nathan Turner, Australia’s latest and youngest coronavirus victim could have contracted the disease in a tiny Queensland town that had no prior cases of the virus.
Mr Turner was found dead in his Blackwater home on Tuesday afternoon by his partner and in a post-more, tested positive for coronavirus.
The coal miner had been showing symptoms of the virus for up to three weeks before his death – but had not left the inland town of 5000 since February.
Authorities have not ruled out a link between an infected Rockhampton aged care nurse who travelled to Blackwater earlier in May as the source of the infection.
The nurse, who has been linked to an aged care home in Rockhampton that had to go into lockdown, claims she completed the 400km round trip without interacting with anyone at a time when Mr Turner was already symptomatic.
Health officers are trying to get back in touch with her after news of Mr Turner’s death to ask more questions.
“It’s possible that there is some kind of connection there, or it could just be a coincidence. That’s what our investigators are working on,” Mr Miles told ABC radio on Thursday.
“Those dates don’t really line up with when he got sick. It is a bit of a mystery and it could just be a coincidence.”
He said Blackwater residents weren’t told of the nurse’s visit because it was deemed low risk.
“To my knowledge, she drove there, watched the sunset, and drove back – didn’t leave her car.”
Mr Turner had a complicated medical history and had not worked since November.
He was not tested for coronavirus while he was still alive because of the seriousness of his underlying condition.
The coroner will investigate whether or not the virus, or Mr Turner’s other known illnesses, caused his death.
A Queensland Health spokesman said he had respiratory symptoms since the first week of May.
Mr Turner’s partner is also sick but an initial test for coronavirus was negative. Results from a second test are expected on Thursday.
A team of public health experts is in Blackwater to help manage the situation and all of Mr Turner’s contacts are being traced.
Widespread testing in the town is also being conducted.
READ MORE: ‘Life of the party’ now nation’s youngest death
Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.35am: US toll passes grim 100,000 milestone
More than 100,000 Americans have now died of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University – more than died in the Vietnam and Korea wars.
The toll is the most of any country in the world by a factor of more than 60,000 – with the second-most impacted country, the UK, recording just 37,542 deaths in comparison.
The US also has the most confirmed cases of any country in the world, with more than 1.695 million cases of coronavirus, 384,902 of which have recovered.
The bulk of fatalities is concentrated on the east coast. New York is the state with the highest coronavirus casualty rate, recording 29,370 deaths.
The neighbouring state of New Jersey is second with 11,379 deaths and Massachusetts is third with 6473 deaths.
The least affected state is Alaska, which has seen 10 die of the disease.
The US recorded its first case of coronavirus in Washington state – a returned traveller who had been in China – on January 21.
However, it was later discovered that the virus was circulating in California even earlier.
A month later the first reported coronavirus death occurred in the same state on February 29 – just days before Australia announced its first coronavirus fatality.
Again, another month later, there were 160,000 cases across all 50 states and more than 3000 coronavirus deaths.
The death toll has constantly been revised by the Trump administration, with the President saying in March that a death toll of 50,000 was expected before revising the figure to 100,000 earlier this month.
READ MORE: Frontline father sees horror at its worst
Angelica Snowden 8.10am: Church leaders seek same rules as pubs
Religious leaders are calling on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to allow more than 10 people to attend places of worship, in light of the imminent relaxation of restrictions that will allow pubs, clubs and restaurants to seat up to 50 people.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said a “double standard was being applied to people of faith” given the new rules that will apply in the hospitality industry from June 1.
“Churches have co-operated at every stage with the government’s health directives during this pandemic but our people are missing gatherings for worship, praying in a sacred space and there are spiritual and mental health effects of such isolation,” Archbishop Fisher said. “People of all faiths should be able to gather and worship.”
He said churches weren’t “asking for special treatment, we are asking for equal treatment”
READ the full story here
Lachlan Moffet Gray 8.05am: NSW wage freeze ‘will harm recovery’
The NSW Government’s plan to freeze a planned wage increase for public sector workers including police, transport workers and nurses will harm the state’s post-coronavirus economic recovery, opposition leader Jodi McKay says.
Yesterday NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced that the state government would seek to delay a planned 2.5 per cent wage increase for 400,000 public sector workers in a bid add $3 billion to the bottom line of a budget struggling under the economic effects of coronavirus.
Labor, the Greens and Animal Justice MLCs have all stated they will vote to overturn the motion when parliament resumes. The Berejiklian Coalition government has a minority in the Upper House and will need to secure crossbench support for the move.
On Twitter NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay said the move was “contractionary” and would hurt both the cities and the regions.
“NSW needs economic stimulus and dollars kept in people’s pockets to spend at the shops,” she said.
“The Berejiklian Government’s pay cut is the very opposite of that. It is contractionary. It will cost economic activity and jobs. It will hurt our cities and our regions.
“The Treasurer mentions “difficult decisions”. He has no idea.
“Difficult decisions are the ones made by nurses, teachers, police, cleaners, guards and bus drivers risking their health on the frontlines of COVID-19 every day while politicians are chauffeured to work.”
Earlier this morning Mr Perrottet told ABC radio the savings would help create new jobs for the 221,000 NSW private sector workers who are out of work due to the pandemic.
READ MORE: NSW public servants face wage freeze
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Agencies 8.00am: EU in €750bn coronavirus response plan
The European Union has set out a €750 billion coronavirus response plan, including a massive pooling of national financial resources that, if approved, would deepen the bloc’s economic union in a way that even the eurozone debt crisis failed to achieve.
Wednesday’s proposal aims to lift the region from its economic slump, but must overcome infighting dividing the bloc.
If backed by all 27 member states, the plan would represent a historic step in knitting together national finances across the bloc. The proposal from the European Commission follows a similar Franco-German plan set out last week and would establish significant new transfers of wealth among members, funded by commonly issued debt.
READ MORE: Frontline father sees horror at its worst
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.35am: Authorities ‘haven’t looked at NRL crowds plan’
State government health departments haven’t even looked at the NRL’s plans to get audiences back into stadiums by July, ARLC chair Peter V’landys has claimed.
“Look, these medical experts didn’t even look at what our proposal was,” Mr V’Landys told Today on Thursday, the day of the NRL’s anticipated return to TV screens across the world.
“We back up our case with the data. We will wait the next two weeks to see what the infection rate does, with the relaxation of the distancing measures, we want to see what happens, is there going to be another spike or is this very low infection rate continues?
“At the moment, it’s less than half a per cent and it’s been like that for nearly 40 days. When we stopped playing rugby league, it was 25.5%.
“We’re not Italy. We’re not Spain. We’re not Italy. We’re not Spain. We’re not Britain. We’re Australia. And we should do a risk analysis and if the risk is low to minimal, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have crowds.”
Mr V’Landys said that if crowds return, there will be a number of safeguards in place.
“We’ll put pretty strict biosecurity measures in place and people will be kept apart one and a half metres,” he said.
“In a stadium that might fit 50 or 60,000 people, you might get 10,000 people. We will have pretty harsh biosecurity measures, we will have thermal cameras taking everyone’s temperatures and we would hope that everyone has the (COVIDsafe) app.
“We’ve got to get back to some form of normality.”
READ MORE: Used car sales soar as commuters tap off buses, trains
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.15am: NSW ski fields to reopen June 22
The NSW government will allow ski fields to reopen on June 22, with Thredbo, Perisher and Charlotte’s Pass set to reopen with COVIDsafe measures in place.
The fields won’t be open for the June long weekend, but will be operating in time for the school holidays.
However NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said it won’t be business as usual, with strict limits on the number of people on the slopes and all forms of “snowplay” banned.
“We want people to ski, we can’t have people congregating,” Mr Barilaro told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Barilaro said the reopening of ski fields would help the area towards recovery after the region was hit by bushfires in January.
“It’s not just what happens in the resort, it’s the whole Monaro Highway corridor that benefits,” he said.
READ MORE: Data lifts hopes of avoiding recession
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.10am: Queenslanders set to go postal for poll
All Queenslander voters could cast their vote in the October state election by mail if laws are changed, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath has said.
It is the government’ preference that the highly-anticipated election on October 31 be conducted traditionally with in-person voting, but Ms D’Ath said the government is working with the Queensland’s Electoral Commission to ensure “all options” are available incase the spread of coronavirus remains an acute public health threat in four months.
“I know the ECQ are talking to their suppliers right now about having sufficient postal ballots being able to be printed, but also talking with Australia Post about could they deliver a full postal if need be,” she told the Courier Mail.
“Certainly, the ECQ’s preference at this time is to have a stand-up ballot and a ballot framework very similar to what we experienced during the local government election.”
The decision will ultimately be made by the electoral commission, with a decision set to be made at the end of June.
Ms D’Ath said Brisbane’s March Council elections, where half of all voters submitted a ballot by post, showed that it was possible to complete a postal poll, but a “stand-up” vote would be preferable as results would be tallied sooner.
“It is everybody’s right to vote and we want to make sure that everyone can exercise that right in a safe way,” she said.
“We’ve shown through the local government election we can do that.”
READ MORE: State faces $2bn tourism hit
Lachlan Moffet Gray 7.00am: Trump threatens action against social media
US President Donald Trump has threatened regulatory action against social media platforms for silencing “conservative voters” after Twitter acted against misleading claims posted by Mr Trump on the website.
On Tuesday Mr Trump tweeted twice to his more than 80 million followers on the topic of mail-in ballots, claiming that they will be used as a way to commit voter fraud if they are permitted to be used for the Presidential election in November as a way of minimising the spread of coronavirus at polling centres.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Twitter tagged these tweets with a link “Get the facts about mail-in-ballots,” which when clicked brings up a webpage with links to news articles detailing how Mr Trump’s claim is misleading.
“Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to ‘a Rigged Election.’ However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud,” Twitter says on the page.
Mr Trump on Wednesday reacted to the unprecedented move, tweeting that the company is “stifling free speech” and is “incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.”
.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” he said.
“We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.
“We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again,” Mr Trump tweeted, referring to the alleged attempts by social media platforms to silence pro-Trump voters amid the presidential election.
Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen. We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.35am: US to pass 100,000 in hours
The United States will reach and pass the 100,000 coronavirus death thresholds in a number of hours, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The first coronavirus death in the US was diagnosed on February 29. Australia recorded its first death just days later.
Since then Australia has had 103 deaths and the US, 99,783 – an average of 1,120 deaths every day.
The threshold was unthinkable just over a month ago when US President Donald Trump was touting 60,000 as the likely final death toll.
The stark reality comes as only half of Americans said they would be willing to get vaccinated if scientists are successful in developing a vaccine, according to a new poll released Wednesday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, issued a stern warning after viewing video showing Memorial Day crowds gathered at a pool party in Missouri.
“We have a situation in which you see that type of crowding with no mask and people interacting,” he told CNN on Wednesday.
“That’s not prudent and that’s inviting a situation that could get out of control.
“Don’t start leapfrogging some of the recommendations in the guidelines because that’s really tempting fate and asking for trouble.”
Dr Fauci said it’s too early to say whether the Republican and Democratic conventions should be held as normal later in the year ahead of the November Presidential elections.
“If we have a really significant diminution in the number of new cases and hospitalizations and we’re at a level where it’s really very low, you might have some capability of gathering,” he said.
“But I think we need to reserve judgment right now, because we’re a few months from there. Hopefully we will see that diminution. If we don’t, then I would have significant reservations about that.”
READ MORE: The amazing race
Lachlan Moffet Gray 6.15am: PM in new meeting with First Movers
Scott Morrison has again met with an exclusive group of world leaders whose countries acted early and effectively against the coronavirus to discuss the reopening of economies.
Tonight I had another valuable discussion with leaders from Austria, Israel, Denmark, Greece, Czech Republic, Norway, Costa Rica & NZ on our fight against #COVID19. So important to come together to learn lessons & look ahead. Thanks @sebastiankurz for hosting this meeting again. pic.twitter.com/aLL112ytwH
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) May 27, 2020
Dubbed the “First Movers COVID Group” the group contains the leaders of nations like Denmark, Singapore, Norway, Israel and is chaired by Austria.
“Tonight I had another valuable discussion with leaders from Austria, Israel, Denmark, Greece, Czech Republic, Norway, Costa Rica & NZ on our fight against #COVID19,” the Prime Minister said on Wednesday night.
“So important to come together to learn lessons & look ahead.”
Mr Morrison said another topic of discussion was the lifting of hard borders between countries, a sign Australia may be looking towards re-establishing some form of international travel.
“We shared experiences on reopening our schools and economies, co-operating on treatment and a vaccine, and how to develop protocols to re-open our borders safely,” he said.
“And also the importance of maintaining vigilance and rigorous testing and tracing so we can keep saving lives.”
The group last met earlier in May on the eve of the federal government’s announcement of a three-step plan for easing coronavirus restrictions.
READ MORE: PM seeks Goldilocks formula
Geoff Chambers 5.15am: Tourist operators plead for borders to be opened
Queensland faces a tourism revenue hit of $769m for every month it keeps its borders shut, as Annastacia Palaszczuk faces increasing pressure to ease travel restrictions before the July school holidays.
As Scott Morrison called on state governments to justify border closures, The Australian can reveal Queensland was on track to lose more than $2bn in interstate travel spending if it kept borders shut until September.
New figures show Queensland is more exposed than NSW and Victoria, with interstate visitors making up 47.4 per cent of its domestic market, sparking calls from tourism operators for the state government to reopen borders within weeks.
In his strongest rebuke on state border closures, the Prime Minister on Wednesday said the expert medical advice “never recommended internal borders”.
Read the full story here.
Michael McKenna 5am: ‘Life of party’ is nation’s youngest virus death
Hundreds of people in the central Queensland mining town of Blackwater will be tested for COVID-19 on Thursday following the death of 30-year-old Nathan Turner, Australia’s youngest victim of the coronavirus.
The coalminer, who had been suffering seizures and was on worker’s compensation since November, was found unconscious on Tuesday and tests conducted after his death found he was carrying the virus.
Mr Turner had been showing symptoms of the virus for three weeks prior to his death, but was not tested. His fiancee, who works in the local bakery and is now sick, has tested negative.
It emerged on Wednesday night that there is some uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 tests on Mr Turner. A test conducted about 9pm on Tuesday — several hours after his death — produced a positive reading for the virus, but a test three hours later came back negative.
Read the full story here.
Ewin Hannan 4.45am: Casuals at the centre of IR reform talks
Stripping back awards in the distressed hospitality and tourism sectors, new deals locking in pay rates for the life of massive projects, and a trade-off over the entitlements of casual workers have emerged as priority targets of the government’s workplace reform talks.
The Australian understands that increasing the ability of casuals to request permanent employment shapes as a key olive branch to unions as the government establishes a new definition of casual employment to protect companies from billions of dollars of backpay claims.
Following Scott Morrison’s call for business leaders and unions to “put their weapons down’’ and seek new ways to create jobs in the COVID-19 recovery, the ACTU and employer groups will next week begin three months of negotiations to rewrite workplace rules.
Read the full story, by Ewin Hannan and Geoff Chambers, here.
Olympics boss rejects conflict of interest claim over $2.5bn arena
Stephen Conry insists he lodged declarations to address any ‘perceived conflicts of interest’ between his former high-flying corporate job and heading the agency charged with getting the 2032 Games build back on track.
Union, law firm cut off alleged rape victim
A young lawyer was allegedly raped by a delegate at a Health and Community Services Union conference, while the ‘worker-friendly’ law firm that sent her there has won a bid to halt her compensation.