Coronavirus Australia live news: Winners and losers revealed in ABS payroll data
New payroll figures show a slight increase in the number of jobs overall through May but reveal which workers were the hardest hit.
- Bright news on jobs
- Vic family cluster hits 12
- Qld feared death toll of 30,000
- Warning as cases top 100,000 daily
- Drug touted by Trump revoked
- US-China talks to take place
- Global cases to hit 8 million
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. New payroll figures show a slight increase in the number of jobs through May, suggesting the worst of the COVID-19 hit to the labour market may be past. A Victorian family cluster has hit 12, amid fears of a second wave. The WHO has issued a second-wave warning as cases top 100,000 daily. New research shows women’s day-to-day lives have been changed more by COVID-19 than men’s. More than 2 million Australians have also tapped into early superannuation payouts under a government assistance scheme.
AFP 7.17pm: Beijing spike ‘extremely severe’
Beijing’s coronavirus situation is “extremely severe”, a city official warned Tuesday, as 27 new infections were reported in the Chinese capital from a cluster has sparked a huge trace-and-test program.
The coronavirus resurgence — believed to have started at the city’s sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market — has prompted alarm as China had largely brought its outbreak under control through mass testing and draconian lockdowns imposed earlier in the year.
The new cases took the number of confirmed infections in Beijing over the past five days to 106, as authorities locked down almost 30 communities in the city and tested tens of thousands of people.
China had eased much of its anti-coronavirus measures in recent months as the government all but declared victory against the disease that emerged in Wuhan late last year.
“The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe,” Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned on Tuesday.
The World Health Organisation had already expressed concern about the cluster, pointing to Beijing’s size and connectivity.
Officials in the city said they would test stall owners and managers at all of its food markets, restaurants and government canteens.
Associated Press 6.20pm: UK unemployment rising ‘faster than Depression’
The number of people in Britain claiming job-related benefits increased by a monthly 23.3 per cent in May to 2.8 million, according to official figures that probably underestimate the toll on the labour market.
The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday that the so-called claimant count — which includes both people who work on reduced income or hours and those who are actually unemployed — was 125.9 per cent higher than in March, when the country was put into lockdown.
The statistics agency also said the number of people on payroll fell by 2.1 per cent, or 612,000, between March and last month.
“If the public health crisis is just starting to ease, today’s figures show that the unemployment crisis is only just beginning,” said Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies.
Mr Wilson said unemployment is rising faster than during the Great Depression in the 1930s and is set to top three million this northern summer.
The actual spike in unemployment would have been much higher were it not for the British government’s Job Retention Scheme, which has been paying a high proportion of the salaries of nearly nine million people.
Many companies have held off from cutting jobs during the lockdown as a result of the scheme, under which the government pays up to 80 per cent of the salaries of workers retained, up to £2500 ($4576) a month.
READ MORE: Hydroxychloroquine taken off emergency list
Ewin Hannan 6pm: Company cancels pay rises
A construction company has succeeded in cancelling two 5 per cent pay rises it previously agreed to pay employees, despite CFMEU evidence some workers felt pressured to vote for the COVID-19 change because the company put their names on individual ballot papers.
ACT company Geocon used the shorter consultation period for enterprise agreement changes — introduced and later withdrawn by the Morrison government — before getting the variation removing the two wage increases supported by a 35 to 8 vote of workers.
The variation, approved by the Fair Work Commission, eliminated a 5 per cent pay increase awarded on February 1 and cancelled a second pay rise due in February next year, reverting wages to 2019 rates until February 2022.
Labor’s industrial relations spokesman, Tony Burke, said the company has used the government’s “dangerous regulation” to lock in pay cuts that endure for years to come.
“At a time when the Australian economy needs people spending, the government has facilitated permanent cuts to pay and conditions,” he said.
“Every payday for the next two years these workers will have less in their bank accounts — and they can thank Scott Morrison and Pauline Hanson.”
But Attorney-General and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said a key protection that remained during the operation of the regulation was that the commission would still be required to satisfy itself that any variations to an agreement were genuinely agreed before it approved them.
“The fact that this agreement was approved by the commission indicates that, as the independent authority, it was able to satisfy itself of that,” Mr Porter said.
READ MORE: Falling death rates bring hope that coronavirus may be in retreat
Rosie Lewis 3.50pm: Senate passes child-sex mandatory sentence bill
The Morrison government bill that introduces mandatory minimum sentences for the most serious child sex crimes has passed the Senate, after senior cabinet ministers attacked Labor for trying to carve out the controversial measure.
Labor attempted to amend the bill on Monday night so that it did not contain mandatory minimum sentencing but after the government refused to the amendment it let the legislation go through.
Some Labor MPs are frustrated by the party’s tactics, saying it should have been anticipated the amendment would succeed, giving the government a chance to wedge the opposition.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton declared in question time that Labor opposed “minimum mandatory sentencing for paedophiles”.
READ FULL STORY here.
Greg Brown 3.35pm: ALP covert recordings may have security implications
Andrews government MP Tim Richardson has claimed there could be national security implications for the covert recordings taken out of the office of Labor MP Anthony Byrne.
Mr Richardson, an ally of disgraced powerbroker Adem Somyurek, said the recordings were a concern given Mr Byrne’s role as deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
He called for an investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
The Australian has also spoken to a Liberal member of the powerful committee who believes there should be an investigation into Mr Byrne’s role in the recordings.
“It is great concerning some of the things we saw with a federal office, no less, it was covertly recorded,” Mr Richardson told Sky News.
“We don’t know who put those recordings in, we don’t know what has been compromised, that is a great concern for our Commonwealth and our national security.
“That office obviously is a participant to the joint standing committee of the commonwealth parliament overseeing national security.
“That committee has made a number of comments about the sovereignty and its relationship with China.
“So the notion that there is an unknown, covert recording is a great concern on our democracy and our sovereignty.
“That needs to be investigated no less by the Australian Federal Police and, if it is a national security issue, ASIO.”
READ MORE: Third Victorian Labor minister forced to quit
Richard Ferguson 3.30pm: PM brands Albanese ‘fool’ over economy attacks
Scott Morrison has warned Australians there will be harder times ahead in the unfolding coronavirus recession, as he branded Anthony Albanese a “fool” over his economic attacks.
The Opposition Leader continued to use question time on Wednesday to push the Prime Minister on the hard September deadline for withdrawing JobKeeper wage subsidies.
When Mr Albanese asked the Prime Minister how many jobs would be lost without the wage subsidies, Mr Morrison lashed out at Labor’s response to the recession.
“He is completely wrong about what we said yesterday. I said that we’re in recession, and in recession, people lose work, and it’s an awful tragedy for those Australians,” Mr Morrison told parliament.
“Australia is weathering this economic storm better than almost every other developed country in the world today.
“If the Leader of the Opposition wants to sell the Australian people that in a recession there is no hardship, then he is a fool.”
Mr Morrison’s insults did not deter opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chlamers from pursuing the government on JobKeeper.
“Why won’t the Prime Minister just be honest and tell the Australian people how many jobs he will end in September?” Dr Chalmers said.
READ MORE: End ‘insane’ border shutdown
Victoria Laurie 3.25pm: Court bid fails, WA live sheep exports get green light
Live sheep exporters in Western Australia have been given the green light to export sheep beyond the June 1 moratorium imposed by the Federal Agriculture department, after a last bid legal attempt to stop the shipment failed.
The Federal Court refused Animal Australia’s objection on Tuesday, which means Perth-based Rural Export and Trading WA can immediately begin to load sheep on the Al Kuwait in Fremantle port and depart midweek for Kuwait.
RETWA made two applications for special permission to export 56,000 sheep into the Middle Eastern summer, the first rejected by the Agriculture department but a second approved late last week.
The company was forced to seek the exemption after an outbreak of COVID-19 among its crew delayed its plans to beat the June deadline, after which no live sheep are supposed to travel to the Middle East for a three-month period.
However, the company says it will drastically reduce to only 35,000 the number of animals they will load on board, in order to mitigate the risk of heat stress among the animals.
It cites mitigation strategies as the removal of heavier sheep that can be less heat tolerant, ensuring wool length of less than 20mm and not loading hotter areas of the vessel.
“The total number of sheep that will be loaded has been further reduced to meet additional requirements placed on RETWA,” managing director Mike Gordon said. “It is estimated only 35,000 sheep will be loaded onto the Al Kuwait before it sails.”
Animals Australia says it is disappointed by the Federal Court decision. Spokeswoman Lyn White says the live export ban was introduced by the government to put animal welfare before commercial interests.
“This is the public expectation, which is why there was such dismay on the granting of this exemption.”
She says extensive scientific reviews have concluded that no measures can sufficiently mitigate the risk of heat stress during June, when the sheep will arrive in Kuwait port after a two-week voyage.
The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) says Animals Australia’s appeal to the Federal Court “was based on nefarious grounds and deliberately aimed at delaying loading of the sheep to cause maximum inconvenience to the exporter.”
READ MORE: Vet slams sheep ship ‘scare tactics’
Davie Penberthy 3pm: One-way traffic as SA opens border
At midnight Tuesday South Australia will become the first state to lift some of its COVID-inspired border closures, allowing travellers from WA, Tasmania and the NT to enter SA.
In an added bonus, SA Premier Steven Marshall has given an early mark to self-isolating travellers from WA, Tassie and the NT who are currently holed up in hotels in SA, saying they do not need to complete the rest of their two weeks’ quarantine and are free to move around.
But the gesture is not being returned in kind, with WA, Tasmania and the NT still remaining off limits to visitors from SA.
Mr Marshall noted the oddness of the one-way border reopening but said he was determined to move to allow more visitors and economic activity in SA, with the state committed to removing all border closures from July 20.
READ FULL STORY here.
Rosie Lewis 2.15pm: Mandatory sentencing: PM expects Labor to ‘protect children’
Scott Morrison has vowed to send legislation that introduces mandatory minimum sentences for the most serious child sex crimes back to the Senate ASAP after Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers amended the bill to carve out the controversial measure.
The Prime Minister used a meeting of the Coalition party room to condemn Labor for rejecting the bill on Monday night, when it managed to strip out the mandatory minimum sentences from the legislation.
“We are proud that we stand up for kids, especially the most vulnerable and defenceless. We are passionate about defending kids,” Mr Morrison said, according to a party spokesman.
“We will send this bill back to the Senate time and time and time again. We are not negotiating on this and we expect the Labor Party to vote for this bill to give protection of vulnerable children.”
Labor’s national platform opposes mandatory sentencing. The party had agreed to try and amend the bill but, if that failed, would vote for the legislation in its entirety.
READ MORE: ALP gets behind child-sex crime bill
Rosie Lewis 2.10pm: ‘Quiet Australians’ question how protests help jobs: PM
Scott Morrison has revived his use of the term “quiet Australians” as he questioned how Black Lives Matter protests and removing statues would help jobs and reopen businesses.
Addressing the Coalition party room on Tuesday, the Prime Minister told colleagues he’d been thinking about the “quiet Australians” over the past few weeks as protests overseas and debates about statues unfolded.
Those protests and debates have occurred on a smaller scale in Australia.
According to a party spokesman, Mr Morrison said he was sure most Australians were asking “‘how does this help my job security, how does this help me reopen my business?’”. He was confident Australians did not want the government to be “distracted”.
Josh Frydenberg acknowledged words from Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt, who had advised Australians to tell our history and learn from it, not to tear it down.
READ MORE: Second Cook statue defaced in Sydney
Richard Ferguson 2.05pm: Question Time is underway in Canberra
With Question Time underway, new research shows women’s day-to-day lives have been changed more by COVID-19 than men’s. More than 2 million Australians have also tapped into early superannuation payouts under a government assistance scheme.
Sarah Elks 1.45pm: Wage freeze for Queensland public servants
The Queensland government’s public service wage freeze will save $500m this financial year, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk saying “everyone’s got to experience a bit of pain” to help the economy recover from coronavirus.
Legislation is expected to be introduced into parliament as early as Tuesday afternoon to defer legally binding payrises to teachers and police of 2.5 per cent due July 1.
Ms Palaszczuk had promised a wage freeze for all public servants for a year. But now it appears those rises will be deferred to future financial years.
“I said very clearly there would be a freeze for one year,” she said.
This means the government will have extra money next financial year to help combat the economic crisis caused by coronavirus, she said.
Executives of state-owned utilities will also be forced to accept a pay freeze, and a halt on politicians’ pay rises will be referred to the independent remuneration tribunal.
The Queensland Teachers Union is in the middle of a three-year legally binding deal with the government for 2.5 per cent pay rises each year. It will ballot its members on whether to accept the freeze, conduct work bans, or engage in strike action.
READ MORE: Virus’ inconvenient truth for climate activists
Melissa Yeo 1.30pm: ASX stocks soar as Trump plans $1tn stimulus
The local share rally is accelerating at lunch, on reports US president Donald Trump is weighing a further $1 trillion in infrastructure stimulus.
It comes after the US Fed last night announced it would buy corporate bonds to provide support for commercial borrowing.
The news has sparked a 1.5pc jump in US futures, and sent the ASX to its best levels of the day – up 209 points or 3.7 per cent at 5929.1.
Just one of the top 200 stocks is trading in the red, Minerals Resources, while Viva Energy leads the market gainers on its plans for a LNG import terminal.
READ FULL STORY here.
PATRICK COMMINS 1.10pm: Bright news in payroll data but worst may be ahead
New payroll figures have shown a slight increase in the number of jobs through May, suggesting the worst of the COVID-19 hit to the labour market may be past.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics report on Australian Taxation Office payroll jobs and wages showed the number of roles increased by 1 per cent last month.
Total job losses between mid-March and May 30 are now at 7.5 per cent, charting a gentle recovery from the 8.5 per cent drop by mid-April.
Since March 14, when Australia recorded its 100th confirmed coronavirus case, total wages paid are down 8.3.
Some of the hardest hit sectors such as hospitality showed some recovery, with payroll jobs in accommodation and food services lifting by 5 per cent through May, even as they remained down close to 30 per cent since March.
EY chief economist Jo Masters said the figures provided further evidence that the easing of restrictions was leading to a lift in economic activity. But Ms Masters warned that “while conditions have improved, and the economy is in better shape than we expected, it is important to remember that we are still in the midst of a severe economic contraction which will result in economic scarring, firms that never re-open the doors and jobs that are lost forever.
“Moreover, the true picture may not emerge until the JobKeeper support is wound back.”
The ABS for the first time provided more granular detail on which industries have suffered the greatest job losses since mid-March. A third of sports and recreation activities jobs have been lost since the start of the year, and 31 per cent of jobs in creative and performing arts. The accommodation industry has lost 32 per cent of roles, and food and beverage services 29 per cent. More than 27 per cent of motion picture and sound recording payroll jobs have also gone.
In contrast, the pandemic has coincided with a 10 per cent increase in the number of jobs in the gas supply industry, and 5 per cent more roles in fuel retailing. Chemical manufacturing jobs have lifted 3.5 per cent, and electricity supply jobs 3.9 per cent.
The new figures confirmed that women have lost a greater number of jobs since March, down 8 per cent versus 6.3 per cent for men, although jobs worked by females in May recovered 1.4 per cent, against a 0.4 per cent gain for males.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Agencies 12.50pm: WA snapshot program gives State confidence
Western Australia can be “more ambitious” in easing COVID-19 restrictions after a testing program of asymptomatic frontline workers detected no cases, the health minister says.
Roger Cook said the DETECT Snapshot program wrapped up last week and more than 18,500 test results had been returned so far, showing no coronavirus in those samples.
“DETECT Snapshot, I think, should provide the community with great confidence … that we’ve got no undetected transmission of the disease in WA,” Mr Cook told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Cook said the results also assisted the state government as it planned to move into phase four restrictions in the coming weeks.
“It obviously gives us more confidence to be bolder and to be more ambitious, even more so than we currently are,” he said. “We’ve eased restrictions ahead of all the other states (and) to a greater extent.
“With DETECT Snapshot in our back pocket, that gives us further confidence that we can go even further in relation to phase four.” Full results of the DETECT Snapshot program will be released after all of the information is collated.
Of the test results available so far, 61 per cent were healthcare workers, 12 per cent were school staff and 10 per cent came from the retail sector. A testing program at 40 public schools, which is run by the Telethon Kids Institute, also started last week for staff and students. WA recorded no new coronavirus cases overnight, leaving the state’s total at 602.
There are just two active cases remaining in WA and none in hospital. — AAP
READ MORE: Explainer — when can you travel overseas?
Adam Creighton 12.25pm: Reserve Bank June board minutes released
Central banks are propping up asset prices, the Reserve Bank Board has heard in a meeting that painted a grim picture of the outlook for business investment.
The minutes from the June meeting of the Reserve Bank Board, released on Tuesday, also revealed businesses were delaying investment decisions but some households were better off as a result of the pandemic responses.
The minutes were released in the wake of a decision by the Federal Reserve to expand its multi-trillion dollar government bond buying program to corporate bonds, a decision that underpinned a rally on Wall Street overnight which has continued into the Australian session today.
At its June Board meeting the Board kept the cash rate at the historic low of 0.25 per cent. The Reserve Bank has bought over $50bn in state and federal government bonds since March when it launched a quantitative easing program to keep yields on government debt around 0.25 per cent.
The minutes came a day after the prime minister signalled the government was facing the two largest fiscal deficits on record and the economy would need to grow each year by almost 4 per cent to return to its pre-pandemic trend.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Aaron Bunch 12.05pm: Qld ‘will do what it takes’ to stop sick southerners
The Queensland government has declared it will fight tooth and nail to defend the closure of the state’s borders in Australia’s highest court. Treasurer Cameron Dick has told parliament the government will do what it takes to stop the state’s sick southern neighbours from spreading coronavirus in Queensland.
“It is very clear where the epicentre of coronavirus is and that is not Queensland,” he stated on Tuesday. “We will contest this vigorously in the High Court. We will pay whatever is necessary to get Queensland through this and to keep Queensland protected.”
Across Queensland, people don’t want the borders open, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament. “There is a reason why the borders are shut and that is to protect the health of those families living in those regions,” she said.
She cited the case of a Melbourne man who travelled to Bundaberg via Brisbane to work on a strawberry farm before testing positive for the illness. Their remarks come as two challenges against the state government’s constitutional right to keep state borders closed amid the coronavirus crisis return to court.
Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and a group of businesses and individuals named Travel Essence launched separate legal proceedings after the borders were closed in March.
The challenges are unlikely to be heard before the borders reopen, however. On Friday, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel told lawyers for the parties it was unlikely the cases would be argued in court before the end of June after learning the opposing sides were having difficulty agreeing on the terms of the battle.
It comes as Ms Palaszczuk on Monday said the government would revisit the decision to close the borders at the end of June. Stage three of the state’s coronavirus recovery road map has always planned for interstate travel to be permitted from July 10, conditional on Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young’s advice. Mr Palmer is also challenging the Western Australian government’s right to close its border. All three cases will return to the Brisbane courtroom for a directions hearing on Tuesday. — AAP
READ MORE: Palmer wades into LNP plotters on the his payroll fray
Max Maddison 11.50am: Schools become hot spots in NSW, Victoria
NSW Health will continue investigations into the source of coronavirus infections at both Laguna Street and Rose Bay Public schools.
In a statement, NSW Health said the additional three cases meant the state had 46 active cases currently being treated by health authorities.
The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the source of infection comes amid a string of school closures in NSW and Victoria.
In Melbourne, a grade five student at Strathmore Primary School tested positive this morning, resulting in the school’s closure while contact tracing and deep cleaning are undertaken.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said parents at the school in the city’s north were notified of the positive result last night.
“The school is closed today and will be subject to a deep cleaning, and obviously the contact tracing will commence immediately to identify the staff and students who might be impacted by this particular case,” she said.
The student is one of nine new cases recorded in Victoria, while the school joins Pakenham Springs Primary School and St Dominic’s at Broadmeadows in closing down due to a coronavirus scare.
READ MORE: Ruby risk assessment ‘not up to the mark’
Agencies 11.35am: New Zealand reports new cases of COVID-19
New Zealand health authorities have announced two new cases of COVID-19 “as a result of recent travel from the UK”, AAP reports.
Tuesday’s announcement ends a run of 23 straight days without new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand, which has locally eliminated the virus. Health authorities have declined to offer more information about the connected cases until a media conference at 1pm AEST.
READ MORE: Geelong set to host ‘energy hub’
Agencies 11.20am: Brazil becomes No. 2 coronavirus hot spot
Brazil’s COVID-19 cases and deaths have surged to make it the No. 2 hot spot in the world, AAP reports.
The first case was reported in China in early January and it took until early May to reach four million cases. It has taken just five weeks to double to eight million cases, according to a Reuters tally.
Global deaths stand at over 434,000 and have doubled in seven weeks. Although Brazil’s official death toll from the pandemic has risen to nearly 44,000, the true impact is likely far greater than the data show, health experts said, citing a lack of widespread testing in Latin America’s largest country.
In the US, which has more than 116,000 deaths, testing is still ramping up months after the start of the outbreak.
READ MORE: China’s ultimate hypocrisy
Sarah Elks 11am: Qld feared 30,000 deaths from virus outbreak
The Queensland government feared one-quarter of Queenslanders would get coronavirus and 30,000 people would die, according to early modelling of the virus’s potential impact.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said the state’s strong response to the COVID-19 threat had protected the state, including the border closure.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament she intended to reopen the border on July 10,
Zero new cases were recorded overnight. The total remains at 1065, with just five cases active. Six Queenslanders have died.
Ms Palaszczuk announced a raft of new government schemes to prop up the coronavirus-hit economy, including $15m for airline route support, extending the $15,000 first home-owner grant for another six months, an additional $5000 grant for people building new homes in the regions, $10m to promote resources exploration, $22.5m for the recovery of the arts sector, and an extra $100m in small business grants.
“The next steps in our economic recovery strategy will save and create jobs and help to rebuild a stronger and more resilient Queensland economy,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
READ MORE: Falling toll raises hope virus is weakening
The Times 10.50am: Trump’s ‘perfect storm’ for virus spread
Donald Trump is unmoved by pleas to postpone rally in Tulsa, where he claims ‘almost one million’ people want to attend indoor event. Read more here
Stephen Lunn 10.40am: Elderly ‘desperate’ for isolation rules update
Elderly Australians are anxious and confused about how deeply to isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s leading seniors advocacy group has warned. Read more here
Anne Barrowclough 10.20am: ‘No scientific basis’ in distancing rule
Leading British scientists say the two-metre distancing rule has no basis in science and may be no safer than keeping a distance of one metre or even less.
Scientists from Oxford University and the University of Dundee say there’s no evidence to support the restriction. Professors Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson, from Oxford University, looked at 172 studies on social distancing in the Lancet magazine and found only five dealt explicitly with COVID-19 and distance. Just one mentioned coming within two metres of a patient, but said proximity had little impact, the scientists write in the UK Telegraph.
A University of Dundee study also suggested that 78 per cent of the risk of infection occurs below one metre, and put the chance of an increased distance making a difference at just 11 per cent.
READ MORE: Boris threatens EU with no deal
Richard Ferguson 10am: Labor’s sex offender backflip ‘astonishing’
Attorney-General Christian Porter said he was “astonished’ by Labor’s backflip on sex offender sentencing and accused them of playing “procedural games” with child protection laws.
“You cannot say you’ll do everything to assist and then play procedural games in the Senate and send it back to the House … and then say in the end you may support it,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio. “It shouldn’t be that hard. If you’ve got 39 per cent of sex offenders charged with Commonwealth offences last year not spending a single day in jail. You do something about it.”
READ MORE: Labor, Greens block paedophile crackdown
Rachel Baxendale 9.50am: 12 cases linked to Victoria family cluster
Victoria has confirmed nine new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the state’s total to 1741.
Two of Tuesday’s new cases have been detected in members of a household previously linked to a cluster at Monash Health.
Another new case has been linked to a cluster which has now reached five households in Melbourne’s north and east who are part of an extended family. There are now 12 cases linked to that cluster.
A further two cases were detected in returned travellers in hotel quarantine, while one was found in a Grade Five student at Strathmore Primary School in Melbourne’s north.
The remaining three new cases are under investigation.
Victoria’s death toll remains 19, with no recent deaths. There are six COVID-19 patients in hospital, including two in intensive care. There are 51 active cases and 1664 people have recovered.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said it was still not clear how two people who attended the Black Lives Matter protest 10 days ago has contracted the virus.
READ MORE: Memo super funds: It’s not your money
Richard Ferguson 9.40am: Labor defends move to block sex offender bill
Labor will back mandatory sentencing for child sex offenders if Scott Morrison rejects their changes to the bill in the House, opposition NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten has promised.
The Opposition blocked attempts to impose mandatory minimum sentencing last night after teaming up with the Greens in the Senate to strip the provisions from the government’s new child protection laws.
Mr Shorten said on Tuesday morning that mandatory sentencing did not always act as a deterrent, but the party would ultimately support the bill if the government insisted the provisions stay.
“We think, the Labor people, think that this improves the Bill. If the government says no, we don’t agree with your amendment,” he told the Nine Network.
“I just want to say to Australians watching the show that Labor will support the Bill when it returns to the Senate, in the event that the government doesn’t agree with our amendments.
“We are not going to stop this law getting through.”
READ MORE: Outrage at Labor move
Max Maddison 9.30am: NSW has another day without community spread
NSW has recorded another day without community transmission, Premier Gladys Berejiklian says, announcing capacity on public transport is set to be “almost doubled” from July.
With increased capacity being implemented on buses, trains and ferries from July 1, the “green dot” system represented a “world-class way of being COVID-safe”, Ms Berejiklian said.
“Now, this is pleasing for those people who work in places like the CBD, or people who do rely on public transport,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We’re still encouraging people to travel outside the peak where possible, but now we will have extra capacity in the peak, almost doubling capacity in the peak from 1 July.”
With each of the additional three cases all from returned travellers in quarantine, Ms Berejiklian said the news was a “positive sign”, particularly after health authorities conducted another 8000 tests on Sunday.
READ MORE: GetSwift in dock over notices
Agencies 9.20am: Trump pushes back on pleas to abandon rally
President Donald Trump has rejected pleas from Tulsa, Oklahoma, not to risk aggravating coronavirus risks by holding a rally there, announcing he wants to triple the crowd to 60,000 people, AFP reports.
Almost One Million people request tickets for the Saturday Night Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2020
“We have a 22,000 seat arena, but I think we’re also going to take the convention hall next door and that’s going to hold 40,000,” he told reporters at the White House.
He was responding to criticism from the local Tulsa newspaper and a top public health official in the city about his election campaign rally, which is scheduled for Saturday and comes as Oklahoma is seeing a recent increase in COVID-19 cases.
“This is the wrong time,” the Tulsa World newspaper said in a bluntly worded editorial.
The arena that the Trump campaign has booked holds about 20,000 people, who would be packed closely together.
In a tweet Monday, Trump claimed that applications to attend the rally in the city, which has a population of less than half a million, were flooding in.
Trump supporters attending the Tulsa rally must agree to a disclaimer protecting the organisers from liability over people who might contract the virus.
READ MORE: China’s rise is not so certain
Agencies 9am: Australians arrive home from Singapore
A small number of repatriated Australians will arrive at Adelaide Airport from Singapore on Tuesday morning, AAP reports.
Passengers will have to complete mandatory 14-days of supervised isolation. Singapore Airlines announced plans to resume some passenger flights to Australian cities, including Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane, in early June.
Max Maddison 8.45am: Melbourne school closes after positive test
Another Melbourne school has closed after a student tested positive to coronavirus.
In a letter sent to parents, Strathmore Primary School said it would close to allow Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services to undertake a deep clean, Nine is reporting.
Coronavirus scares have forced school closures across the nation, with Strathmore, in the city’s northwest, becoming the third Melbourne school to shut its doors in the past week.
READ MORE: From adversity, a winning strategy
Agencies 8.25am: Workers won’t cop pay cuts, unions warn
Workers won’t stand for permanent pay cuts as the Australian economy recovers from the coronavirus, the nation’s top union boss says, AAP reports.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus will tell an economic forum in Canberra on Tuesday permanent cuts to workers’ rights and pay is dangerous and will damage confidence, hindering recovery efforts.
“We will not have the legacy of this pandemic reverberate onto the next generation. Young people are already hardest hit, along with women and we cannot pass watered-down rights to the next generation,” she will say.
“You can’t cut your way to recovery. Australian workers know this. “We are keen to partner with anyone who understands that the only way to build a stronger economy is also about making it a fairer economy.”
The CEDA event will focus on job security, wage growth, workplace safety and local manufacturing.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says ensuring businesses invest in Australia is key to helping the economy. The government is looking at tax incentives, deregulation, better access to export markets and flexible workplace arrangements.
The JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme is legislated until September but is in the midst of a review. The scheme has ended early for the child care sector, which the government has moved on to a separate support plan.
READ MORE: AFL holds hard line on breaches
Agencies 7.55am: Pompeo to meet Chinese official over rising tensions
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet a top Chinese official in Hawaii Wednesday in the powers’ first senior-level talks since tensions skyrocketed over the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.
Pompeo will hold talks with senior Chinese foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, The South China Morning Post said, quoting an unnamed source.
Politico and CNN also reported on plans for the meeting. CNN said it would take place at Hickam Air Force Base next to Pearl Harbor.
The State Department did not comment on the reports.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that “more information will be given when available,” saying only that the two countries were “maintaining communications via diplomatic channels,” according to the state-run Global Times.
It will be the most senior in-person meeting between the two nations since January, when Vice Premier Liu He met President Donald Trump at the White House to sign the first phase of a deal aimed at ending soaring trade tensions.
But friction has sharply intensified since then as the Trump administration, with Pompeo leading the charge, seeks to blame China for COVID-19.
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Jacquelin Magnay 7.40am: Aussie’s Michelin-starred eatery closes down
One of Australia’s most famous exports, chef Brett Graham, has closed the doors of his two Michelin-starred London restaurant, The Ledbury, because of coronavirus. Read more here
Max Maddison 7.20am: COVID-19 cases set to race past 8 million
The total number of global confirmed cases of coronavirus is rapidly closing in on eight million, Johns Hopkins University reports.
Chile’s state of catastrophe was extended by additional 90 days, after cases in the South American country continued to surge. On Sunday, the country recorded 6938 cases – a daily high.
Meanwhile, France reported 29 coronavirus deaths on Monday, marking the sixth day in a row with under 30 fatalities.
The figures come as President Emmanuel Macron moved to further dethaw the country’s economy, announcing a full reopening of restaurants and cafes in Paris.
Despite relaxing social distancing lockdowns weeks ago, the continued surge of the virus forced India to reimpose restrictions in Chennai, a city of 15m people.
India recorded another 11,502 cases overnight, bringing the country’s total to 332,424, and resulting in over 9500 fatalities.
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Agencies 7.05am: NSW unemployment rise, revenue fall revealed
The NSW government is setting course to boost the state’s economy in the wake of coronavirus, ahead of a forecast sharp downturn in activity, AAP reports. Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will on Tuesday deliver an economic update to state parliament during which he will warn state gross domestic product will contract by 10 per cent in 2019/20.
He will also forecast the state’s unemployment rate to rise to 7.75 per cent, from around six per cent now, and a fall in government revenue of $20.3 billion in the five years to 2023/24, according to media reports.
The forecast revenue decline will be underpinned by an expected drop in GST proceeds and falling tax receipts, off the back of slower growth in the property and construction sector and the impact of recent bushfires and drought.
The government on Tuesday announced it would spend another $388 million to fast track elective surgeries delayed because of the coronavirus.
READ MORE: NSW faces a grim set of numbers
Max Maddison 6.40am: New cases linked to Beijing market pass 100
The surge of coronavirus cases linked to a Beijing wholesale food market surpassed 100 new cases, as authorities race to find the source of the outbreak.
In a statement, the World Health Organisation said the size and connectivity of Beijing meant the outbreak was a “concern”, but claims that the outbreak may have been caused by imports or packaging of salmon were not the “primary hypothesis”.
Chinese authorities in several districts of Beijing closed security checkpoints, closed schools and increased testing regimes.
On Saturday, the WHO said 87 new cases had been reported – 41 infectious cases had been linked to the Xinfadi market – increasing fears of a second wave
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Agencies 6.25am: WHO issues warning as cases top 100,000 daily
The head of the World Health Organisation says more than 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide each day over the past two weeks – mostly in the Americas and South Asia – and countries that have curbed transmissions “must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence”, AP reports.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted a new cluster of cases in Beijing, which went more than 50 days without a new case of COVID-19, and said the origin of that new series of cases is under investigation.
Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief, said the U.N. health agency has offered additional assistance to Chinese authorities and said WHO could be bolstering its team in China in the coming days as the investigation advances.
The outbreak first emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Tedros noted that it took over two months to reach 100,000 reported cases – now that is a daily norm. Nearly three-quarters of each day’s new cases come from 10 countries, mostly in South Asia and the Americas, he said.
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Agencies 6am: US revokes use of drugs touted by Trump
US regulators have revoked emergency authorisation for malaria drugs promoted by President Donald Trump for treating COVID-19 amid growing evidence they don’t work and could cause serious side effects, AP reports.
The Food and Drug Administration said the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating the coronavirus. Citing reports of heart complications, the FDA said the drugs’ unproven benefits “do not outweigh the known and potential risks.”
The decades-old drugs, also prescribed for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can cause heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage. The agency reported Monday that it had received nearly 390 reports of complications with the drugs, including more than 100 involving serious heart problems. FDA’s move means that shipments of the drugs obtained by the federal government will no longer be distributed to state and local health authorities for use against the coronavirus.
After Trump’s repeated promotions, prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine soared, contributing to shortages for patients using the drugs for established uses. No large, rigorous studies have found the drugs safe or effective for preventing or treating COVID-19. And a string of recent studies made clear they could do more harm than good.
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Agencies 5.40am: Academy Awards set down for 2021 delayed
The 2021 Oscars movie awards ceremony has been postponed from February to April due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says, AAP reports.
The ceremony for the film industry’s highest honours will take place on April 25, 2021, the organisers said. It was originally scheduled for February 28. The coronavirus epidemic shut down movie theatres worldwide in mid-March and brought production of films to a halt.
The Academy also extended the deadline by which movies must be released in order to be eligible for an Oscar nomination to February 28, 2021 from December 31, 2020.
“Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our Awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalised for something beyond anyone’s control,” Academy president David Rubin and Academy chief executive Dawn Hudson said in a statement on Monday.
The production shutdown meant that many movies may not be finished or released before the usual year-end deadline. Dozens of other movie releases have been moved to 2021.
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Stephen Lunn 5.10am: COVID-19 changes women’s lives more than men’s
Women say their day-to-day lives are being changed more by COVID-19 than men believe theirs are, new research reveals.
A higher proportion of women than men report doing more cooking, more housework, spending more time on screens and indulging in hobbies, doing more exercise and even sleeping more over the past month, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
Men also see themselves doing more, but consider their lives less altered than women, the ABS household activity data finds.
The ABS household activity survey of 1000 people, taken at the end of May as a number of COVID-19 social restrictions were being eased, also revealed a mixed response to new freedoms.
Read the full story here.
Yoni Bashan 5am: Ruby Princess risk assessment ‘not up to the mark’
Senior NSW Health officials have lined up again to concede there were serious deficiencies in the management of the Ruby Princess cruise ship, admitting risk assessments and oversight mechanisms were not rigorous enough.
Mark Ferson, director of the NSW Health Public Health Unit, told a special commission of inquiry an updated log of unwell passengers should have been examined by the risk assessment panel that graded the ship a “low risk” for entry.
He said further questions should have also been asked of the ship when it did not comply with basic protocols to swab at-risk passengers.
The inquiry is examining the circumstances behind the arrival of the Ruby Princess in Sydney on the morning of March 19, and the resulting decisions that saw its nearly 4000 passengers disembark before COVID-19 testing could be completed on 10 swabs taken for analysis.
Read the full story here.
Gerard Cockburn 4.45am: 2 million-plus Aussies access early superannuation
More than two million Australians have withdrawn nearly $15bn in superannuation under the federal government’s early access scheme, claiming financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Weekly figures released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority showed $14.8bn has been withdrawn from the country’s near $3 trillion retirement pool, with 1.98 million account holders already being paid out by funds.
As at June 7, 2.12 million applications had been lodged with the Australian Taxation Office for early withdrawals of retirement balances.
Read the full story here.
Additional reporting: Agencies
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