Coronavirus Australia live news: Pick fruit, find love: Inquiry to probe nine infected hotel workers; Deputy PM’s pitch to young unemployed
The inquiry into Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine scheme will examine how nine workers became infected at hotels after the program’s July revamp.
- Pick fruit, find love: Deputy PM’s pitch to unemployed
- ABC staff vote against deferring pay rise
- Help farmers, unemployed told
- Victoria records 13 cases, 4 deaths
- MUA ‘offers’ wharf peace deal
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The deputy PM says thousands of unemployed young Australians should go fruit picking because they might find love, and Instagram opportunities. ABC staff have voted against deferring an imminent pay rise after the Morrison government urged the public broadcaster to freeze increases to show solidarity with other public servants making sacrifices during the COVID-19 recession.
The Maritime Union of Australia is proposing a 12-month “peace deal” with Patrick to end their docks standoff, offering to drop industrial action for a year in exchange for rolling over the existing enterprise agreement and a 2.5 per cent pay rise. Victoria has recorded 13 new cases and four deaths as NSW and Queensland record zero community transmission.
Geoff Chambers, Joe Kelly 10.45pm: Make or break: PM’s national rebuild
Scott Morrison will pour $1.5bn into revitalising Australian manufacturing through the COVID-19 economic recovery and unveil a strategy to boost large-scale production, develop new products and expand access to global markets.
The Prime Minister will use a major pre-budget speech to announce a $1.3bn Modern Manufacturing Initiative that will see the government leverage co-investment across six priority areas where Australia is deemed to have competitive advantages.
Manufacturers in the resource technology, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space fields stand to benefit under the new framework, with the sectors picked based on World Bank and OECD analysis.
Natasha Robinson 10.15pm: Hope for hydroxy: scientists back trial
Scientists administering hydroxychloroquine to hundreds of health workers in Victoria and NSW say they still believe the controversial drug may prevent people contracting coronavirus and have vowed to continue their investigations.
Hydroxychloroquine has been discontinued from the world’s major randomised clinical trials because it has been shown to be ineffective in reducing the severity of COVID-19 or mortality rates from the virus.
But scientists at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne say the drug may still play a role in preventing people contracting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with scientific studies not yet ruling out the efficacy of the drug as a prophylactic.
Robyn Ironside 9.45pm: Sydney airport curfew may be lifted
The federal government will review Sydney Airport’s evening curfew and 80 flights per hour cap as it considers how to reinvigorate the country’s aviation industry.
Qantas, Virgin Australia and smaller airlines have made thousands of staff redundant, with international and state border closures making flying difficult.
The review is outlined in an issues paper — part of a five-year plan — to be released by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Thursday. The 36-page paper has been compiled to stimulate debate on the best way to take the aviation industry off taxpayer-funded life support as the flight subsidies bill soars towards $2bn.
Paul Garvey 9.15pm: Kids’ pain disproportionate, says magnate
A West Australian mining magnate has broken a decade-long media silence to slam the response of governments across the country to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that measures introduced to fight the virus are scarring a generation of Australian children.
Kerry Harmanis, who made more than $500m after he sold his nickel mining company at the height of the last mining boom, told The Australian he was deeply concerned about the powers and controls wielded by state governments since the outbreak began.
He called on governments nationwide to loosen border controls, move away from restrictive lockdowns and increase their transparency around the health advice that is shaping their decis¬ions, and slammed the actions of “shortsighted, unimaginative and ultimately selfish leaders” who were dividing the country.
“The hard border closures have — apart from the overwhelming economic cost — created immeasurable and unnecessary suffering, increased suicide, domestic violence, self-harm, family separation, destruction of community and much more, with a total loss of livelihood and wellbeing for so, so many,” Mr Harmanis said.
Paul Garvey 8.45pm: Victoria faces costly credit rating cut
Victoria could have its credit rating slashed within weeks and other states are at growing risk of following suit, as states splurge on debt to counter the economic effects of the coronavirus.
Ratings agency S&P Global on Wednesday warned that state government debt across the country was surging, putting pressure on the states’ hard-won and highly valued AAA and AA+ ratings.
Any cut to those credit ratings would likely increase the cost of servicing their debts, just as they start to balloon as a result of government initiatives aimed at stimulating their economies.
S&P placed Victoria’s rating on “credit watch negative” at the start of August, flagging that it would make a call on whether to cut the rating within a few months.
Olivia Caisley 8.15pm: Two in three staff lack PPE training
Just one in three aged-care workers has done the federal government’s personal protection training module, despite the sector facing the highest death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The numbers constitute a small increase since The Australian revealed in July that just one in five aged-care workers had completed the same training on the eve of the Victorian spike.
So far across Australia, 670 people have died in aged-care settings, with 633 of them in Victoria.
Ewin Hannan 7.45pm: Ports talks fail to settle dispute
Negotiations between Patrick and maritime union officials will resume on Thursday after eight hours of talks on Wednesday failed to settle the Port Botany dispute.
If the talks fail, the company will look at proceeding with a government-backed application to terminate legal action by the union.
READ MORE: MUA offers 12-month ‘peace deal’ to end docks standoff
Victoria Laurie 7.15pm: Stranded Aussies furious after DFAT leaks addresses
Stranded Australians unable to get home from overseas are furious that their email addresses have been released inadvertently by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in an email reputedly containing the addresses of 20,000 individuals.
One member of a support group for stranded expatriates commented on Facebook: “What an absolute joke DFAT is. Can’t help us get a flight, but they can carelessly breach our privacy and distribute the private contact details of Aussies in distress.”
A DFAT spokesperson has confirmed that a letter of apology has been sent after it was alerted to the problem.
In a message issued late Wednesday, DFAT said “an error occurred this morning in relation to a DFAT email regarding the Financial Hardship Program.
“An email was sent in error at 11.13am today in which email addresses in the distribution were visible to others.”
The message said that DFAT recalled the message as soon as it became aware of the error.
READ MORE: ABC staff reject COVID-19 pay freeze
Richard Ferguson 6.45pm: Lambie spurns university fee overhaul
Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has struck a near-fatal blow to the Morrison government’s radical overhaul of university student fees, saying she cannot back the legislation as it will deny poor people their dream jobs.
Education Minister Dan Tehan will now rely solely on the vote of Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff to have any chance of passing his reforms, which will push up the price of law and humanities units by 113 per cent.
Senator Lambie joined independent upper house MP Rex Patrick in opposing the bill on Wednesday night after high-level negotiations.
“I want everyone to have the chance at being what they want to be. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the vote that tells the country that poor people don’t get dream jobs,” she said in a statement.
“This bill makes university life harder for poor kids and poor parents. And not only does it not have the same impact on wealthy families, it even gives them sweetheart discounts.”
A Centre Alliance spokeswoman said Senator Griff and lower house MP Rebekha Sharkie were still in negotiations with the government and the higher education sector.
READ MORE: Ruby passengers infected eight on flight
Rachel Baxendale 6.40pm: 1100 Victorian health workers infected
Almost 1100 health workers whose primary workplace is a hospital have been infected with coronavirus since Victoria’s pandemic began, according to data released late on Wednesday by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The 1091 cases as of Tuesday comprise 30.8 per cent of the total 3540 COVID-19 infections in health workers in Victoria to that date.
The vast majority of other cases in health workers have been in those working in aged-care facilities.
The Royal Melbourne Hospital and St Vincent’s account for the highest number of coronavirus cases in staff, with 139 and 115 respectively, with one case still active at St Vincent’s.
The Royal Melbourne’s Royal Park campus separately had 81 cases.
Melbourne’s Northern Hospital has had 95 cases in workers, while the Sunshine Hospital campus of Western Health has had 88, including a case which remains active, and the Footscray Hospital campus has had 66, with one still active.
Three campuses of Alfred Health have had clusters, including The Alfred with 30 cases, and unspecified Alfred campus with 15 cases, two of which remain active, and the Caulfield Hospital, with five cases.
Chief Medical Officer Andrew Wilson maintained appropriate safeguards were in place, despite the more than 1000 cases.
“Our guidance for PPE is amongst the strongest in the world and sits above the current National and WHO guidance,” Dr Wilson said.
“Victoria’s health system is well-prepared, adaptable and resilient and all Victorians can be reassured that whether our health services are ready to provide care to those who need it, when they need it.”
As of September 28, there were 57 active coronavirus cases in Victorian health workers, 43 or 75 per cent, of which have been linked to aged care outbreaks.
A further 19.3 per cent, or 11 cases, were linked to hospital or healthcare outbreaks and three were in other settings.
READ MORE: Curfew legal bid faces bin after revocation
Ewin Hannan 6.15pm: Porter dismisses union port proposal
Attorney-General Christian Porter has declared the maritime union’s proposal for a 12-month extension of its existing enterprise agreement with Patrick would not be a “particularly satisfactory” resolution to the dispute disrupting Sydney’s Port Botany.
Mr Porter, who is also the Industrial Relations Minister, said on Wednesday that the union and the company should try and negotiate a new enterprise agreement rather than agree to a 12-month rollover of the current workplace arrangements and a 2.5 per cent pay rise.
Talks between Patrick and union representatives were continuing in the Fair Work Commision ahead of a hearing on Thursday that is scheduled to hear a government-backed application by Patrick to get any legal industrial action stopped.
Company sources have expressed scepticism about the benefit of a 12-month extension, particularly if the year-long period started in July this year.
Mr Porter said the union’s conduct “puts the supply chains of very important goods that Australians rely on in serious jeopardy”, a claim denied by the union leadership.
“We’ve got no choice but to intervene in the matter and try to bring it to a resolution,” Mr Porter said.
But I don’t think that it’s a particularly satisfactory resolution just to have a year extension on the existing EA (enterprise agreement) so that all this could happen again in six or 12 months’ time.”
READ MORE: Victoria ‘heavy-handed’ on COVID fines
Rachel Baxendale 5.50pm: Hotel inquiry to examine nine infected workers
The inquiry into Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine scheme will examine how nine workers became infected with coronavirus at quarantine hotels after the program was revamped in late July.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday the nine included a Department of Health and Human Services staff member, a Victoria Police member, two Alfred Health employees and five employees of catering and cleaning company Spotless.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Ed O’Donohue wrote to the Hotel Quarantine Board of Inquiry on Wednesday, urging inquiry chair Jennifer Coate to examine the nine cases following media reports by The Australian and other outlets.
Mr O’Donohue noted Alfred Health Chief Operating Officer Simone Alexander had given evidence at the inquiry regarding the approach to infection control at the hotels.
“The evidence to the inquiry, that was essentially uncontested, is that infection control procedures Alfred Health had adopted at the ‘hot’ hotels were superior to those used throughout the hotel quarantine program for returned travellers,” Mr O’Donohue wrote.
“The procedures applied to clinical, security and support staff, such as cleaners.
“The suggestion that workers at the two hotels may have been infected from work contact is inconsistent with the evidence at the inquiry.
“Government spokespeople suggest that the workers contracted the virus in the community and not at work in the hotels. However, no proof has been provided to support this assertion.
“Also, the government was evasive and dilatory in responding to the questions from media outlets.
“It is possible that the evidence led about the two hotels could be taken into account when the inquiry makes recommendations about future quarantine practices.
“I therefore respectfully submit that the inquiry urgently call for more evidence about practices at the Brady and Grand Chancellor hotels, especially the infection of workers at those sites.
“This should involve examination of Alfred Health, Spotless, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Victoria Police personnel.”
Later on Wednesday afternoon, Hotel Quarantine Inquiry CEO Jo Rainford confirmed the inquiry would examine the issue.
“Thank you for raising this matter,” Ms Rainford wrote.
“We confirm that, in the course of preparing its report, the Board will be making further enquiries regarding the operation of the Brady and Grand Chancellor Hotels.”
READ MORE: ABC staff reject COVID-19 pay freeze
Rachel Baxendale 5.50pm: Nine workers infected outside hotels is possible: Sutton
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says he does not regard it as as an improbable coincidence that nine staff members infected with COVID-19 while working in the Andrews government’s overhauled hotel quarantine program since late July have been assessed by state health authorities as most likely having acquired the coronavirus elsewhere.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety, which is administering the revamped hotel quarantine scheme, told The Australian on Tuesday one of the staff members had probably acquired the virus through an aged-care facility, another through public housing, and a third via a cluster among Victoria Police.
Maintaining none of the nine “has been assessed as having acquired COVID-19 at a health hotel” and that at least seven of the cases had been “assessed as most likely occurring from community transmission”, a spokeswoman for the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Services confirmed five of the nine had contact with known household cases, while the final case “was identified as having an unknown source and was considered to be likely community transmission in a hotspot area”.
Of the nine staff members, one worked for the Department of Health and Human Services, another for Victoria Police, another two at Alfred Health and the remaining five for catering and cleaning company Spotless.
Asked whether it was an improbable coincidence that all nine had acquired the virus outside the hotels, which accommodate coronavirus-positive people, Professor Sutton said: “No, not really. We’ve had 20,000 cases in Victoria.”
“They’ve been in staff settings as cleaners and as security, but have picked it up in the community.
“The assessments that are made for those staff are the same assessments that we make for every single case: are you a close contact of a known case? What settings have you been in in the 14 days prior to developing symptoms?
“All those judgments are made on that individual assessment, and that’s where we’ve gotten to with these cases, many of whom were determined to be close contacts of known cases.
“If genomic testing comes through that indicates otherwise, we would reassess on that basis for that.”
Asked why hotel quarantine workers were evidently moving between that setting and others such as aged-care facilities and public housing, given two of the workers are said to have acquired the virus in those locations, Professor Sutton said: “Sometimes there were authorised officers who needed to be deployed in multiple settings.
“We’ve always tried to minimise that, but there are some operational constraints.”
READ MORE: Ardern: NZ waiting for Oz to open borders
AFP 5.30pm: Israel passes law to limit protests
Israel’s parliament approved a law on Wednesday restricting demonstrations as part of a coronavirus-related state of emergency, that critics say is aimed at silencing protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The law, which passed its final reading by 46 votes to 38, was meant to be part of a slew of measures approved by parliament on Friday tightening a second nationwide lockdown.
But debate on the measure was put off as the government struggled to secure the necessary votes amid an opposition outcry and a protest outside parliament on Tuesday.
The lockdown, which went into force on September 18, shutters the majority of workplaces, markets, places of worship, schools and cultural venues.
It also bans journeys of more than 1km from home, other than for essential purposes such as buying food and medicine or receiving medical treatment.
The new law gives the government powers to declare a “special emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic” for renewable periods of one week.
During that time, the 1km limit on travel will apply to demonstrations, and there will also be restrictions on numbers.
The state of emergency can be declared only during a lockdown. The government has yet to use those powers, but with more than 237,000 coronavirus infections and 1528 deaths in a population of nine million, Israel has the world’s highest weekly infection rate per capita.
Meir Cohen of main opposition party Yesh Atid-Telem condemned the new controls on demonstrations as a “slippery slope”.
READ MORE: Ruby passengers infected eight on flight
AFP 5pm: British economy shrinks by record 19.8pc
Britain’s economy shrank by a record 19.8 per cent in the second quarter, entering recession on the coronavirus lockdown, but the contraction was less severe than first thought, official data showed on Wednesday.
“UK gross domestic product is estimated to have contracted by 19.8 per cent in Quarter 2 (April to June) 2020, revised from the initial estimate of a 20.4 per cent fall,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Britain officially entered recession in the second quarter, after gross domestic product contracted by a downwardly-revised 2.5 per cent in the first quarter.
The technical definition of a recession is two quarterly contractions in a row. “It is clear that the UK is in the largest recession on record,” the ONS concluded, noting the coronavirus pandemic sparked record declines in economic activity around the world in the second quarter.
More than 42,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have died in Britain, the worst death toll in Europe.
READ MORE: ABC staff reject COVID-19 pay freeze
Rachel Baxendale 4.30pm: ‘I’m not commenting on an ex-MP’: Sutton
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has maintained the state is pursuing an “aggressive suppression” strategy against coronavirus, rather than one of eradication, despite former health minister Jenny Mikakos tweeting about the latter earlier this week.
“There is nothing new in this space,” said Professor Sutton at Wednesday’s daily press conference alongside Premier Daniel Andrews.
“The aggressive suppression strategy is a national cabinet strategy.
“It speaks of the fact that we are looking to get to zero community transmission, but it’s in recognition of the fact that the viruses out there globally, the virus will always have an opportunity to reemerge in any jurisdiction, no matter how long that might have gone without any community transmission.
“That’s the case in Auckland, New Zealand, and it’s been the case in other jurisdictions in Australia, and so we’re looking to get to zero community transmission through an aggressive suppression strategy.”
On Monday Ms Mikakos, who resigned on Friday citing elements in Mr Andrews’s evidence to the hotel quarantine inquiry with which she “strongly” disagrees, tweeted during the Premier’s press briefing: “I’m so pleased to see how low the numbers are. I’m so proud of Victorians and so grateful for the sacrifices made to get us to this point. We are well on the way to eradication.”
Asked what he made of the tweet at his first public appearance since his former boss’s resignation, Professor Sutton said: “I’m not commenting on an ex MP commenting on Twitter.”
I am saddened to see more lives lost, my sympathy to their families. But I’m so pleased to see how low the numbers are. I’m so proud of Victorians and so grateful for the sacrifices made to get us to this point. We are well on the way to eradication. â¤ï¸ https://t.co/wThKTZgRTd
— Jenny Mikakos #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) September 28, 2020
Asked whether it was a good thing to have a health minister resign in the middle of a pandemic, Professor Sutton said: “We’re as a government and as a health department continuing to be completely focused on (coronavirus), so I will roll with whatever changes occur, but there’s no question that the, the efforts and the focus and their prioritisation and the work that’s ongoing has not changed.”
“We are doubling down our efforts now at this really critical juncture.”
Asked whether the change in ministers had made it more difficult to focus, Professor Sutton said: “No, I don’t think so.”
“Minister Mikakos was extraordinarily hard-working. It was a privilege to work with her, but having met and spoken to and gone through the strategy with (new Health) Minister (Martin) Foley, we are on the same page, and I’m assured that the work that we’ve laid out strategically in public health and more broadly through the state control centre is exactly as Minister Foley wants to see it, and he supports it in full.”
Asked whether it was a big ask for Mr Foley to have to take over the role amid a pandemic, Professor Sutton said the former minister for mental health had “not been disconnected from Department of Health work in general with his previous portfolio, obviously sitting in the building and across a lot of work in recent months”.
“It is the work of the department that he’ll oversee, but everyone is totally focused on the task and knows their job,” Professor Sutton said.
READ MORE: Future workforce hinges on data visibility
Kieran Gair 4.25pm: Ruby Princess passengers on Qantas flight infected 8
Genomic sequencing has traced a cluster of COVID-19 cases that emerged in Western Australia to a Qantas flight that carried scores of infected Ruby Princess passengers to Perth, just hours after NSW Health allowed the virus-riddled cruise ship to dock at Sydney Harbour.
Researchers found at least 29 people who had been on board the March 19 Qantas flight, which was carrying 60 cruise ship passengers, would later test positive for COVID-19.
At least eight people —- possibly up to 11 — caught the virus on board flight QF577, which may have been carrying a potential superspreader.
Of the 243 passengers on board QF577, 28 were Ruby Princess passengers, 13 were carrying the virus and of that group 11 were infectious.
Also on board were 30 Ovation of the Seas Passengers, who had arrived in Sydney the previous day. Of that group, four had COVID-19 and one person was infectious.
“We identified 11 secondary cases with symptom onset during March 22 to April 1; among these, 8 cases were classified as flight associated,” the researchers wrote in their report published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.
“These 8 persons did not know each other. Four had commenced their journeys from different US cities and had taken an overnight flight from Los Angeles, California, USA, which landed at Sydney Airport on the morning of March 19.”
READ the full story here.
Victoria Laurie 4.15pm: WA’s quarantine ‘softer’, no date for lifting hard borders
Premier Mark McGowan has announced a relaxation of quarantine conditions for Victorian and New South Wales approved travellers to Western Australia, but no date has been set for any lifting of WA’s hard borders.
Victorians entering Western Australia from October 5 will be able to serve two weeks’ isolation at home or in chosen premises, instead of in government-approved hotels.
From next Monday, NSW residents will have the same entry conditions as other states and territories, other than Victoria. Arrivals from NSW must also have a COVID-19 test on day 11 of their quarantine.
The state government has also introduced a ‘virtual quarantine check’ app that will ensure quarantined individuals can be ‘virtually’ checked by police via their mobile device.
After an electronic prompt from police, a person will be required to send a photograph of themself in the house where they are supposed to be in isolation. Facial recognition will confirm the person’s identity.
Mr McGowan says the WA-designed app is not compulsory, but he encouraged quarantined people to download and use the app as a way of reducing pressure on the police, who have made 50,000 physical visits to quarantine premises to date.
He says after their two weeks’ isolation, the person can delete the app from their phone. “It’s the smallest of inconveniences...it helps the state, the police and it helps you.”
He said the state’s hard border closure has resulted in a record 171 consecutive days in WA of no community transmission. “It continues to be one of the most effective weapons.”
He said the borders will remain closed and he will not set a date for lifting it until the spread of the virus is under control in other states.
The quarantine changes come as eight more Filipino crew members on a cargo ship off Port Hedland tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 17. Health minister Roger Cook said the men are all in good health, ten in hotel isolation and seven remaining on board the ship. He said Port Hedland hospital is equipped with high-pressure rooms to deal with infected patients.
There are currently 22 active cases in WA, including the ship crew members, bringing the state total to 684.
READ MORE: COVID-19 tests democratic system
Ewin Hannan 4.05pm: Fear of drug shortages in weeks due to wharfs stand-off
A major pharmaceutical company has warned of drug shortages if the industrial action by wharfies at Sydney’s Port Botany continues for weeks.
Stevedore Patrick admitted on Wednesday that there are no urgent medical supplies being delayed due to the dispute with the maritime union.
In a letter to Health Minister Greg Hunt on Tuesday, Arrotex Pharmaceuticals chief executive Dennis Bastas said the company was facing a “crisis at Port Botany which was threatening our pharmaceutical supplies and risking a dramatic increase in drug shortages”.
He said shipping companies in Asia and Europe were refusing to load containers and send ships to Sydney because they feared they would not be unloaded. Manufacturers were also delaying processing orders
“My supply chain team expects within a week the upstream issues will be causing 4-6 week delays in the anticipated delivery times for a number of our drug deliveries which may result in shortages at Australian pharmacies,” he said.
“Within a few weeks the continued industrial action will have resulted in 10-12 week delays in a number of our scheduled product deliveries which will produce significant market shortages.”
READ MORE: MUA offers docks ‘peace deal’
Rachel Baxendale 4.00pm: Vic LGA cases below for first time since June
All of Victoria’s local government areas now have fewer than 50 active cases, for the first time since June 28, more than three months ago.
The milestone comes after Wyndham, in Melbourne’s outer southwest, peaked with 929 active cases on August 12, the day after Victoria’s active caseload peaked on August 11 with 7880 cases.
As of Wednesday, Wyndham still has the highest active caseload in Victoria, with 48 cases - a decrease of five since Tuesday.
Brimbank in Melbourne’s outer west has 46 with a decrease of four since Tuesday.
Moonee Valley in Melbourne’s northwest, Hobsons Bay in the southwest, Melton in the outer northwest, Moreland in the north, Hume in the outer north and Casey and Greater Dandenong in the outer southeast round out the Victorian LGAs with double figure caseloads.
Of Melbourne’s 31 LGAs, 16 have fewer than five cases, of which two have none, namely Cardinia, on the southeastern fringes of the city, and Maroondah in the outer east.
There are just three active cases left in regional Victoria including a single case in each of Colac-Otway in the southwest, east Gippsland in the far east, and Mitchell immediately north of Melbourne.
Heidi Han 3.45pm: PM’s Moon Festival message, reminder, amid pandemic
Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent his best wishes to the Australian Asian community as they embracing a quieter Moon Festival this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tradional selebrations featuring mooncakes and moon-gazing, lanterns and street festivals, gatherings with friends and families overseas have been scaled down in Australia ahead of the festival, celebrated when the Mid-Autumn Moon emerges on Thursday, according to the lunar calendar.
Acknowledging the importance of traditions and rituals of one of the most important dates in the country’s cultural calendar that is celebrated by Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian and many other Australian Asian communities, the PM reminded people to celebrate in a Covid-safe way.
“Our celebrations will be different this year,”, said Mr Morrison in his 2020 Moon Festival message, which was translated into community languages.
“We must gather in smaller groups and be thankful in different ways. We may not be able to travel as freely or as far,” he said.
“Even in the midst of pandemic, in Australia we have much to be thankful for, and much to hope for.
“To all who will celebrate this Moon Festival, I hope for clear skies and a bright moon,” said Mr Morrison, who also recognised the festival season “a source of comfort and security in a time of great uncertainty.”
Across Australia, Asian restaurants and grocery stores have imported and locally-made mooncakes for sale for weeks in the lead-up to the festival.
In Sydney, COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the annual Cabramatta Moon Festival in Sydney, an event which attracts crowds of up to 90,000 people.
Other small-scale events have managed to go ahead to boost struggling local businesses.
A new dining and retail precinct Darling Square, near Sydney’s Chinatown, will be lightened up this weekend by hundreds of colourful lanterns, which are also available for purchase with proceeds donated to support locals in need.
Amid Melbourne’s lockdown, the Sunshine Lantern Festival will go virtual on Thursday via ZOOM, featuring storytelling, games, paper lantern making, and other child friendly activities.
READ MORE: Victoria ‘heavy-handed’ on COVID fines
Rachel Baxendale 3.20pm: Vic by the numbers: Aged care cases fall further
There are 147 active cases of coronavirus linked to Victorian aged care facilities as of Wednesday — 11 fewer than on Tuesday — despite two of Wednesday’s new cases being linked to aged care.
As of Wednesday there have been 632 coronavirus deaths linked to aged care facilities in Victoria, including two of four deaths reported in the 24 hours to Wednesday.
The 10 aged care outbreaks with the highest numbers of active cases as of Wednesday and deaths if any as of September 8 (the most recent date for which data is available) are:
— 33 active cases linked to Estia Keilor in Melbourne’s outer northwest - down from 33 on Tuesday (46 total - up from 45 on Tuesday). It is understood this cluster began when a resident returned from being treated for an unrelated condition at Footscray Hospital, having contracted coronavirus;
— 21 active cases linked to Opal Hobsons Bay Altona North in Melbourne’s southwest - down from 23 on Tuesday (44 total).
— 19 active cases linked to Embracia Moonee Valley in Melbourne’s northwest - down from 22 cases on Tuesday (80 total, 5 deaths);
— 14 active cases linked to Edenvale Manor Keilor East, in Melbourne’s outer northwest - up from 13 on Tuesday (23 total - up from 22 on Tuesday);
— 12 active cases linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community Werribee in Melbourne’s outer southwest - down from 14 on Tuesday (260 total, 18 deaths);
— Seven active cases linked to Doutta Galla Woornack, in Sunshine, in Melbourne’s west - down from eight on Tuesday (60 total);
— Seven active cases linked to Mercy Place Parkville in Melborune’s inner north (104 total, 14 deaths);
— Four active cases linked to Twin Parks in Reservoir, in Melbourne’s north (127 total, 20 deaths);
— Four active cases linked to Churches of Christ Care Arcadia in Essendon, in Melbourne’s northwest (22 total, one death);
— Three active cases linked to Epping Gardens in Epping, in Melbourne’s north (220 total, 35 deaths);
Non-aged care outbreaks with the highest numbers of active cases on Wednesday include:
— Eight active cases linked to the Casey community outbreak involving at least seven households in Melbourne’s outer southeast — down from nine active cases on Tuesday (total cases: 45 - one more case than on Tuesday);
— Five active cases are currently linked to the Springvale shared accommodation outbreak in Melbourne’s outer southeast (total cases: 5). The same numbers as when this cluster was first confirmed on Friday;
— Four active cases linked to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne’s inner southeast - down from six active cases on Tuesday (total cases: 11)
— Three active cases linked to Footscray Hospital in Melbourne’s inner west - down from seven active cases on Tuesday (total cases: 20).
READ MORE: What if 768 people died due to actions of a business?
Rosie Lewis 2.55pm: Pick fruit, find love: McCormack’s pitch to unemployed
Michael McCormack says unemployed young Australians should go to the regions in their thousands to pick fruit because they might find the love of their life and will have plenty of Instagram opportunities.
Making his pitch to Youth Allowance recipients, who will be offered incentives in Tuesday’s budget to take up farm work, the Deputy Prime Minister said it would be “desirable” if the government could fill an expected horticulture workforce gap of 26,000 people by March with Australians.
“If we could get the full quota (of 26,000) that would be the desirable outcome,” Mr McCormack said.
“Have a go. Come to regional Australia. Bring your mobile, have that Instagram moment because up a ladder, picking fruit, blue sky in the background, wonderful country breeze, wonderful friends around. You’ll find more friends, you might find the love of your life out in regional Australia. It could change the way you live.”
The Australian revealed on Wednesday that backpackers, Pacific Islanders and seasonal workers will be able to extend their visas to stay in Australia for longer.
Mr McCormack said the extension would last 12 months for backpackers on the harvest trail.
The Morrison government will also remove conditions on visas used by working holiday-makers and other foreign nationals that would ordinarily force them to return home.
The age limit of 30 on the working holiday-maker visa will be scrapped, for example, so people aged 31 and older could continue working in agriculture.
JobSeeker and Youth Allowance recipients will be encouraged to go into the regions and work on the land, earning up to $300 per fortnight from a farmer before welfare payments are reduced.
Mr McCormack would not say if the government would provide transport and accommodation subsidies for those Australians who join the harvest trail and demanded the state governments play a role in stemming the worker shortfall.
“We can’t force people to take these jobs, we can’t actually herd people onto buses and transport them there but we jolly well will make sure there are incentives for them to do so,” Mr McCormack said.
“It’s up to those people who are out of work to have a look, to see what’s available … There is a mutual obligation there to actually, if there’s a job there, to take it.”
Australians aged 16 to 24 can qualify for Youth Allowance, depending on whether they’re looking for work, studying or have an apprenticeship.
READ MORE: Morrison’s promise: take your pickers
Rachel Baxendale 2.51pm: Victorian cases linked to Chadstone butcher
Two of Victoria’s 13 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday have been linked to a butcher at the Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne’s southeast.
The Department of Health and Human Services says a staff member who has since tested positive for the virus worked at The Butcher Club store at Chadstone from 6am to 6pm from Wednesday to Saturday last week inclusive.
Nearby public toilets at what is Melbourne’s largest shopping centre have also been listed as a “high risk” location, as has the Coles supermarket at Chadstone, where a customer who has since tested positive attended for about 15 minutes on Sunday.
Woolworths in nearby Ashwood has also been listed after a customer who has since tested positive was there for an hour on Saturday.
A further two of Wednesday’s new cases have been linked to clusters at the following aged care facilities:
– Estia Keilor in Melbourne’s outer northwest. This is currently Victoria’s largest active aged care cluster with 33 active cases (46 total). It is understood this cluster began when a resident returned from being treated for an unrelated condition at Footscray Hospital, having contracted coronavirus;
– Edenvale Manor Keilor East, in Melbourne’s outer northwest. There are 14 active cases currently linked to this facility (23 total);
The remaining nine new cases on Wednesday are under investigation, and are yet to be linked to known outbreaks.
At least seven Spotless cleaning staff working the Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne’s southeast were linked to a coronavirus cluster in mid August.
The following Melbourne local government areas have new coronavirus cases on Wednesday:
— Melton (outer northwest): 3
— Monash (southeast): 2
— Moonee Valley (northwest): 2
— Stonnington (inner southeast): 2
— Boroondara (east): 1
— Greater Dandenong (outer southeast): 1
— Kingston (southeast): 1
— Whitehorse (east): 1
Of 20,169 people who have had coronavirus in Victoria since the pandemic began, 19,006 have recovered - an increase of 28 since Tuesday.
Of 305 active cases in Victoria on Wednesday, 302 are in people from metropolitan Melbourne, while three are in people from regional Victoria.
Of the total number of cases since the pandemic began, 18,777 have been in people from Melbourne, while 1192 have been in those from regional Victoria.
There have been 9618 cases in men and 10,537 in women.
The total number of cases in health workers has increased by two since Tuesday, to 3542, although the number of active cases in health workers decreased by seven to 46.
There is one case linked to residential disability accommodation - in a staff member. This is down from two cases on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Richo — Andrews still has a lock on next election
David Rogers 2.44pm: ASX falls 2pc as opinion polls favour Biden
Australian shares are still suffering from a lack of buying as US futures tumble.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell as much as 2pc to a 4-day low of 5834.2 in volatile trading as S&P 500 futures dived 0.7pc.
After initially calling it for Trump, the US futures market is embracing opinion polls showing the spread widened in favour of Joe Biden.
With the first US presidential debate out of the way and the US share market set for a tumble, traders are wondering how far it needs to fall before President Trump agrees to increase fiscal stimulus.
But ASX 200 share trading volume is barely in line with the 20-day average despite all the volatility.
Thus, as has been the case all week, the share market is falling because of a lack of buying, rather than heavy selling.
READ MORE: Trading Day
Remy Varga 1.53pm: Another curfew could ‘take cafe owner’s rights again’
A Melbourne cafe owner seeking to declare the revoked curfew unlawful is uncertain the Andrews’ government won’t again take away her freedom, a court has heard.
Jason Harkess, who is representing businesswoman and Liberal Party member Michelle Loielo, said his client remained in a state of uncertainty over whether she could again lose her liberties and freedoms.
Mr Harkess pointed to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews comments on Sunday on the possibility of a third coronavirus wave, saying this meant the curfew could be reintroduced without warning by the Victorian government.
“Ms Loielo’s rights can be taken away by another curfew as quickly as they were given back,” he said.
Mr Harkess said if a declaration was made, it would be the first time the Supreme Court had made a legal pronouncement on the “extent governments may exercise and impinge on liberties of Loielo and everyone else.”
The curfew was introduced on August 2 as a COVID-19 prevention measure and extended by Professor Michelle Giles from September 14, when it went from 8pm to 5am to 9pm to 5am.
Mr Andrews announced on Sunday the curfew would be scrapped from 5am Monday — five hours before the trial was scheduled to begin.
Kristen Walker, who is representing Professor Giles, said now the curfew had been revoked, Ms Lioelo would need to show she was more impacted by the restrictions than anyone else living in the lockdown zone.
“The plaintiff is in no different position to every other person affected,” she said.
Walker said many of the impacts referenced by Ms Loeilo relate to all of the social distancing restrictions that were in place from August 2, such as being unable to see her parents, which did not relate to the curfew extension authorised by Professor Giles.
She said Ms Loielo further did not distinguish the impact on her business of the curfew from the rest of the stage-four restrictions introduced.
“Many people including the plaintiff have experienced hardship as a result of the directions … what is under challenge is not the directions,” she said.
Ms Walker said the one thing identified in Ms Lioela’s affidavit prevented by the curfew was being unable to take a stroll around the block after putting her children to bed with the help of her parents.
The case comes after the hotel inquiry on Monday heard the Department of Health and Human Services failed to follow legal advice when detaining around 20,000 returned travellers.
READ MORE: Durie — Victoria ‘heavy-handed’ on COVID fines
Staff writers 1.37pm: Who won the ‘demolition derby’ Presidential debate?
Donald Trump bounced around issues like a pinball machine … but found Joe Biden ready to punch back. Who won the first US Presidential debate?
Read our expert analysis from The Australian’s columnists Paul Kelly, Troy Bramston, Caroline Overington and Greg Sheridan.
READ the full analysis on the US Presidential debate here
Ewin Hannan 1.31pm: Ships still experiencing significant delays into ports
Global container operator Mediterranean Shipping Company says vessels continue to experience significant delays upon arrival at ports throughout Australia, with wait times ranging from nine to 17 days.
MSC said congestion at Sydney’s Port Botany “initially caused by weather related incidents and then further amplified by recent industrial action” was causing extended delays at both the ports of Melbourne and Brisbane.
“Delays and wait times for vessels to berth in Melbourne are being reported as over 9 days, while in Brisbane the wait time for vessels to berth is now 10 days. In Sydney, wait times are reported in excess of 17 days,” it said.
“MSC has been proactive in adjusting our vessel schedules to help assist Australian exporters and importers from having to face long and unnecessary delays in their supply chain.”
However, due to the ongoing congestion and to maintain liner services at the required levels, a $USD 300 per twenty-foot equivalent unit congestion surcharge would be imposed on exports and imports at the ports of Melbourne and Brisbane.
READ MORE: Jack the Insider — Debate shout-a-thon a verbal shambles
David Rogers 1.26pm: Bets favour Biden after debate
Betting odds say the first US presidential debate went badly for POTUS.
While share market investors initially seemed to think Trump went okay, electionbettingodds.com has Donald Trump down 3.2ppts to 39.6pc and Joe Biden up 4.1ppts to 58.8pc.
S&P 500 futures are down 0.3pc after rising as much as 0.7pc in the first half-hour of the debate.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is down 1.4c at 5868 after initially halving its early fall of 1.5pc after the debate.
READ MORE: First debate marked by chaos, bitter barbs
Rachel Baxendale 1.21pm: ‘CEO would wait for findings over deaths’: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the issue of whether or not a CEO or company director whose business caused almost 800 deaths should resign “certainly wouldn’t be a matter for right now” if an inquiry was underway.
Breaches in the Andrews government’s hotel quarantine program caused Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus, which has led to the deaths of 779 people as of Wednesday, seen more than 18,000 infected with the virus and prompted one of the harshest lockdowns in the world.
A board of inquiry into the program led by retired judge Jennifer Coate is not due to deliver its findings until November 6, but counsel assisting the inquiry urged Justice Coate on Monday to find public service chiefs failed to keep Daniel Andrews and key ministers informed about major problems in the hotel quarantine program.
Earlier this year, the Andrews government introduced some of the toughest industrial manslaughter laws in the developed world, which can see company directors jailed for workplace deaths irrespective of their level of responsibility or control.
Asked by The Australian at his daily press briefing on Wednesday whether he would expect a CEO or company director to resign if the business they presided over had made decisions that led to the deaths of at least 779 people, Mr Andrews said: “Well I’m not a corporate commentator.”
Challenged over the fact that his government has introduced workplace manslaughter laws, Mr Andrews said: “Yeah, I did, because we took it to the election, and we were honoured to have the very significant, overwhelming support of the Victorian community to get on and deliver those policies.”
“If a CEO, to use your example, found themselves in that set of circumstances, and if there was a process that hadn’t yet been completed and a report had not been written, then that certainly wouldn’t be a matter for right now, would it?” Mr Andrews said.
“That would be a matter where you would wait, just as I am, wait and see what Judge Coate finds, what she recommends, what she reports, and that’s five, six weeks off.
“But I will make the point again, lest anyone be in any doubt, I do not run from problems, I do not quit to avoid doing the hard work that has to be done.
“I will be here every day that I’m given the honour of this role, to get the job done, and we will bring down a budget later this year that will be the biggest investment, the biggest recovery package that this state has ever seen, and I’m really confident that those strategies will be well informed, and they will be very effective in Victoria being strong again.
“Victorians have shown their strength all the way through this and I’m deeply proud and grateful to them, and the Victorian economy will show its strength next year as well, because we’ll play our part, businesses will play theirs, workers, all of us will work together to make sure that 2021 is a very different year than 2020.”
Asked whether he believed his former health minister Jenny Mikakos had “run from problems” in resigning over the weekend, Mr Andrews said: “I’m not – ‘I’ was the key phrase in what I said. I’m talking about me. I’m not making any comments on anybody else.”
READ MORE: Top bureaucrats singled out over 768 deaths
OLIVIA CAISLEY 1.09pm: ABC staff vote against deferring pay rise
ABC staff have voted against deferring an imminent pay rise after the Morrison government urged the public broadcaster to freeze increases to show solidarity with other public servants making sacrifices during the COVID-19 recession.
The Australian understands 80 per cent of employees voted against varying their enterprise agreement to delay a 2 per cent rise, and fall into line with core government departments and dozens of agencies that have accepted a six-month deferral for wage rises.
The public sector union had urged staff to reject the pay freeze, advising members they deserved the $5m in pay rises that are due next month.
In May Communications Minister Paul Fletcher wrote to the ABC, saying the government expected the ABC to investigate all options to pause wages in line with other government agencies.
In an email this month to staff, ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose said “the Minister asked us to consider the current situation across the media industry and the challenges other media organisations face, along with the Australian community, due to the exceptional economic consequences caused by COVID-19”.
In an email from Rebekah Donaldson, Chief People Officer at the ABC, to staff at lunchtime on Wednesday she said she respected the decision and employees would see the increase in their October pay packet
“As the ABC Chair Ita Buttrose communicated to you on 11 September, the Communications Minister Paul Fletcher and the Australian Public Service Commissioner (APSC) Peter Woolcott asked the ABC to consider deferring the pay rise in line with all non-APS Agencies,” she said. “However, the ABC Act guarantees the independence of the Corporation and sole responsibility for setting the pay and conditions for staff rests with the ABC Board.”
“The Act also requires the Board to consider advice on Government policy when it is requested to do so. We respect your decision on this matter and appreciate your professionalism throughout this process.”
The ABC and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher have been contacted for comment.
with Tom Dusevic
READ MORE: ABC pay rises ‘out of step with community’
Anthony Piovesan 12.57pm: Are Melbourne’s mystery circles the new way forward?
Mysterious circles emerging across Melbourne’s inner-eastern suburbs could be the “new way forward” for socialising in a COVID-safe way.
Stonnington Council is behind the initiative, with the Chapel Street Precinct Association saying the New York City social circles inspired campaign could save struggling businesses along the popular retail strip.
“Melburnians are desperate to enjoy the sunlight in our beautiful parks,” Chapel Street Precinct general manager Chrissie Maus said.
“After six weeks of confinement, these gentle social distancing reminders will be not only welcome, but a cool, Instagram moment for the history books. Relax and fill up on all the missed-out vitamin D.”
It comes after the State government eased some of the city’s harsh lockdown restrictions on Sunday. Now gatherings of up to five people from two households are allowed to meet up in public.
Ms Maus said there were about 70 circles at parks and reserves across suburbs like South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor.
“For Melburnians who wish to be outside and support local business – this is the best way to kill two birds with one stone,” she said.
Neighbouring restaurants and eateries are supporting the initiative, with food hampers available to be delivered across to picnic-goers in their circle.
“There is a groundswell movement for supporting local businesses. This is seeing more people understand the impact they can have by supporting local. The real sense of community is coming back and seen more than ever around our iconic local high street,” Chapel Street Precinct chair Justin O’Donnell said.
Participating businesses in the social circle campaign include Dilly Daly, Snow White Bakery, Rustica Sourdough, lucky Penny, Pretzel, Kaneffi, Little Tim Tam, Alison’s Handmade Bread and Maker & Monger.
Will Glasgow 12.44pm: Beijing unhappy about ‘exclusive clique’
China’s foreign ministry has confirmed its deep unease about next week’s “Quad” meeting in Tokyo, calling the gathering of the US, Japan, India and Australia an “exclusive clique” that targets “third parties”.
“We believe the world’s overriding trend is peace, development and win-win co-operation. Instead of forming exclusive cliques, multilateral and plurilateral co-operation should be open, inclusive and transparent,” said China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
“Instead of targeting third parties or undermining third parties’ interests, co-operation should be conducive to mutual understanding and trust between regional countries,” Mr Wang said at a regular press briefing late on Tuesday in Beijing.
READ the full story here
David Ross 12.08pm: ‘Hotspot definition integral to travel bubble’: Berejiklian
Gladys Berejiklian says discussions around hotspot definitions which are integral to any trans-Tasman border bubble should take a wider rather than narrower view.
“I am very loath to have a very localised definition, people are likely to work in very different parts of cities,” the NSW Premier said.
“People might work in one spot and live in another. Based on the NSW experience any definition would have to be around distinguished cities. Just because other areas like Victoria have chosen (a narrow) definition I’m not sure that works.”
During the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria the state government designated postcodes as hot spots.
Ms Berejiklian said it was critical now to ensure NSW was prepared “for how we can live with this pandemic” but that the government was looking at lowering restrictions once the school holidays ended.
“It’s about making sure we can do as much as we can to support our jobs,” she said.
“My biggest fear which has been from day one is in the last couple of months it has been complacency,” she said.
“I have an insider’s view on how hard every day is for the health people for the police just keeping things where they’re at, it’s a slog, that’s why complacency now worries me.”
READ MORE: Job-ready package too flawed to pass
David Ross 11.50am: More light shed on Sydney mystery case
More information has come to light around the mystery case of COVID-19 in a man in his 50s in Campbelltown, Sydney, last week.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said genomic testing has linked the case to the COVID-19 cluster around the Liverpool hospital that saw multiple people infected.
How the man came to contract the virus has yet to be determined.
Dr Chant said NSW Health was undertaking further testing and investigation to confirm the link between the man’s case and those of the hospital cluster.
“At the moment we’re focused very much on following up of the contacts of the gentleman,” Dr Chant said.
“It does mean we can’t be complacent particularly in greater western and southwestern Sydney. That’s an area we know the disease was grumbling around.”
The man’s housemates and staff working at the man’s assisted living facility have been tested for the virus.
READ MORE: Asking for trouble if we rely on China
David Rogers 11.34am: ASX trims fall amid presidential debate
Australia’s share market is trimming a sharp intraday fall as US index futures rise on what looks like a strong showing by Donald Trump in the first of three US presidential debates.
The S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9pc at 5898 after falling 1.5pc to a 4-day low of 5861.6.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.3pc to an intraday high of 3344.88.
READ MORE ASX live news at Trading Day
Rachel Baxendale 11.20am: Victoria’s active virus cases drop to 305
Victoria now has a total of 305 active cases of coronavirus — a decrease of 21 since Tuesday.
Wednesday’s 13 new cases include four cases which have been linked to known outbreaks, and nine which remain under investigation.
Two previously reported cases have been reclassified, meaning the cumulative number of cases since the pandemic began has risen by 11 on Wednesday.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said all seven of Tuesday’s cases which remained under investigation had now been linked to outbreaks, although he did not say which outbreaks.
The four deaths reported in the 24 hours to Wednesday have taken Victoria’s coronavirus death toll to 798.
The deaths include those of a woman in her 70s, a woman in her 80s and a woman and a man in their 90s.
Of the four deaths, two have been linked to aged care facilities, taking Victoria’s aged care coronavirus death toll to 632.
There are 44 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus on Wednesday, including six in intensive care, of whom three are on ventilators.
This compares with 46 people in hospital on Tuesday, including five in intensive care, of whom four were on ventilators.
Victoria’s 13 new cases on Wednesday come after 17,937 tests were processed in the preceding 24 hours, bringing the total number processed since the pandemic began to 2,694,959.
This compares with 13,575 tests processed in NSW during the same time period.
Wednesday’s positive test rate for Victoria is now 0.07 the same as Monday’s rate, which was the lowest positive test rate since June, but came after five positive results were received from only 6,807 tests.
There have been 4272 cases where Victorian contact tracers have been unable to establish a source of infection — a decrease of one since Tuesday.
Regional Victoria now has just three active cases, down from six on Tuesday.
The number of active cases linked to aged care in Victoria is now 147, or 48.2 per cent of the total 305 active cases in the state on Wednesday and down from 158 cases linked to aged care on Tuesday.
There are 46 active cases linked to health workers, including aged care and disability workers, down from 53 active cases on Tuesday.
There is now only one case linked to residential disability accommodation — down from two on Tuesday.
This case is in a staff member.
READ MORE: Patten — Why Xi’s dictatorship can’t be trusted
David Ross 11.12am: NSW records zero community transmission for fifth day
No new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 have been reported in NSW, but four travellers have tested positive in hotel quarantine.
This marks the fifth day in a row NSW has not reported a locally acquired case.
Overseas acquired cases continue to account for the lion’s share of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Recent NSW Health data shows excluding cases acquired on cruise ships, The United States accounts for the single largest source of overseas-acquired cases, followed by the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
NSW Health reported 13,575 tests in the 24 hour reporting period, that’s compared to the 6381 which caused concern among members of the NSW government.
Active cases of COVID-19 across the state continue to decline, with only 50 cases being treated by NSW Health.
Three people are in ICU due to the severity of their symptoms, none are being ventilated.
The last patient on a ventilator with COVID-19 in NSW came off on September 23.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said it was important people maintained vigilance as the state entered the holiday period.
“It’s important we don’t let our guard down,” she said.
READ MORE: Breast milk may stop Covid spreading
Cameron Stewart 10.57am: WATCH LIVE: Trump vs Biden first debate
The first Trump-Biden presidential debate is taking place in Cleveland Ohio. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden will stand far apart on stage and there will be no handshake but expect plenty of fireworks.
FOLLOW the Trump vs Biden debate live here
Robert Gottliebsen 10.48am: Union retreats to fight again on wharves
Suddenly this week the waterfront unions found themselves cornered and stepped back with a peace offer that gives them 12 months breathing space before attacking again.
READ Robert Gottliebsen’s full story here
Ewin Hannan 9.29am: No urgent delay to medical supplies, stevedore admits
Stevedore Patrick has admitted there are no urgent medical supplies being delayed due to the dispute with the maritime union.
Patrick terminals chief executive Michael Jovicic said on Wednesday that the company had not been contacted by any shipping company seeking to unload medical supplies.
“I have not been contacted by a shipper seeking to move through the system a container with urgent medical supplies,” he told ABC radio’s Hamish McDonald.
Ahead of conciliation talks with the union, he said he would reserve his judgment on the MUA offer to roll over the existing enterprise agreement in exchange for a 2.5 per cent pay rise, no industrial action and retention of existing conditions.
He said the union had previously made a similar offer which was rejected at the time because the union had also sought commitments limiting automation and outsourcing.
He said the Port Botany terminal was currently operating at 60 per cent capacity, with four vessels waiting to dock. He said 38 ships across the country were affected.
READ MORE: Paul Kelly — Tax cuts debate a trap for Labor
Rosie Lewis 10.27am: Farm work plan for jobless ‘slavery’: AWU
The Australian Workers’ Union has lashed the Morrison government’s budget plan to offer incentives to young, unemployed Aussies to work on farms this harvest season, declaring it was “nothing short of modern day slavery”.
AWU national secretary Daniel Walton was also critical of the government encouraging people on JobSeeker to pick the country’s fruit and vegetables, saying they would only be able to earn $550 a week – “well below” the $753 weekly minimum wage – for “backbreaking work”.
“This is a half-baked plan that is only designed to benefit one group of people – farmers,” Mr Walton said.
“(It) is nothing short of modern day slavery and will do nothing to stop rampant worker exploitation.
“All it will do is exploit unemployed young Australians until the pandemic is over and then they’ll go back to relying on an even cheaper backpacking workforce.
“The farming industry has gotten away for decades with exploiting and abusing workers and chronically underpaying them. This proposal just gives them the green-light to do this to a whole new generation of young workers.”
Under the budget package, revealed in The Australian, backpackers, Pacific Islanders and seasonal workers will be able to extend their visas to stay in Australia for another 12 months.
The Morrison government will remove conditions on visas used by working holiday-makers and other foreign nationals that would ordinarily force them to return home.
The age limit of 30 on the working holiday-maker visa will be scrapped, for example, so people aged 31 and older could continue working in agriculture.
There will also be new incentives for Australians on Youth Allowance to take up farm work, which have not yet been announced.
READ MORE: COVID reveals NBN shortfalls
Sarah Elks 10.10am: Palaszczuk: ‘Let’s see all Australia reopen together’
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she wants to see all of Australia open “all together at once,” when community transmission in Victoria and NSW is under control.
Ms Palaszczuk said the state would keep a “close eye” on Victoria when residents were allowed out of lockdown, to see if case numbers spiked.
She also revealed she had sent a text message to WA Premier Mark McGowan last night, wanting to know more about WA’s smartphone app.
On Queensland’s border reopening to more of NSW, Ms Palaszczuk said there would be delays this weekend at the border.
Asked whether she wanted to see the state’s border reopened, Ms Palaszczuk said: “I think we want to see all of Australia reopened”.
“My priority is if we put the focus on Victoria and NSW and get no community transmission in those states, Australia can open up all together at once, and wouldn’t that be wonderful to see,” she said.
READ MORE: ‘Sack pork-barrel minister’
Rachel Baxendale 10.05am: Andrews to address media at 11am
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is due to give his daily press briefing at 11am.
READ MORE: Despairing doctor’s plea to Andrews on lockdown
Will Glasgow 10.02am: Chinese journalist tells of ASIO raid
A Chinese state media journalist has broken his silence about a seven-hour ASIO raid conducted in front of his young daughter in their Sydney home.
READ Will Glasgow’s full story here
Sarah Elks 9.50am: Queensland goes yet another day without a case
Queensland has recorded another day of zero COVID-19 cases, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirming the state now has just five active coronavirus patients.
Making a political announcement in Cairns, Ms Palaszczuk said the state’s total was 1157 and over 6700 tests had been conducted in the past 24 hours.
Tomorrow, more NSW residents will be allowed into Queensland as the “border bubble” zone expands to include Byron Bay and other northern NSW destinations.
Treasurer Cameron Dick said the government had committed $8bn worth of economic and health funding to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government announced $30m to go to the Cairns ship-building industry, as part of a series of funding announcements this week before the QLD election campaign is due to kick off on Tuesday.
Mr Dick used the opportunity to attack the LNP and leader Deb Frecklington for her border policies.
“They demanded the borders be reopened, early, and that would have put the lives of Queenslanders at risk,” Mr Dick said.
More to come.
READ MORE: Santos wins tick for Narrabri gas project
Brent Read 9.48am: Stadium switch for NRL grand final
Up to 40,000 people will be able to attend the grand final after the NRL confirmed the game had been relocated from the Sydney Cricket Ground to ANZ Stadium.
READ the full story here
Richard Ferguson 9.27am: Budget to allow $326m for 12,000 extra uni spots
Education Minister Dan Tehan will spend $326m to provide 12,000 extra university places to struggling Year 12 graduates and people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Mr Tehan will tell the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Summit that coupled with the government’s shake-up of student fees, the budget spend will provide 30,000 more places next year.
“We are doing this in recognition of the challenges faced by the Year 12 class of 2020, who have endured a final year of school like no other, and those who have lost their jobs and who need to retrain and reskill to find another,” he will tell the summit.
“If the Senate passes the Job-ready Graduates Bill, there will be up to 30,000 additional university places available next year.
“That’s more young Australians who will benefit from the opportunity to get a university education. That’s more Australians who can reskill if they lost their job.”
There are doubts in the higher education sector that the Job-Ready Graduates package will deliver the extra university places it purports too, with ANU university policy analyst Andrew Norton projecting there will be 11,000 fewer funded spots next year due to continuing students.
The Australian also revealed on Tuesday that several major universities are projected to lose tens of millions by 2024 due to the reforms, according to a study from Melbourne University senior fellow Mark Warburton.
The Department of Education has refuted the study by Mr Warburton – who implemented Julia Gillard’s higher education reforms – and said universities will benefit from changing student enrolment patterns.
READ MORE: Big unis face huge hit from fee shake-up
David Ross 9.19am: Berejiklian rejects relaxing hospitality restrictions
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has locked in behind maintaining the state’s 4 square metres per person rule for hospitality venues warnings states that had relaxed the rules were “living in a false sense of security because they are not welcoming people from other states”.
The NSW government would only look to relax the rules when preparations had been made, the Premier told Sunrise.
“If you want to keep the economy going, get rid of the borders, allow people to move freely, get the tourism industry going and of course, we can look at the opportunities into allowing more people into hospitality venues but we need to make sure we are ready for that,” she said.
“Can I congratulate so many businesses who’ve been innovative and instead of having one seating at dinner, they have had two or three and actually managed to get around those issues.
“In NSW, we have encouraged businesses to do that, we have supported them and we will continue to do that. We want to see a further easing of restrictions but not at the expense of then having to restrict activity in the medium term because we have acted too quickly.”
Ms Berejiklian said she welcomed moves to create a trans-Tasman travel bubble but said she hoped the arrangements were reciprocal and that NZ did not respond too harshly to any cases.
“With all due respect to New Zealand, they have gone for a strategy where they shut everything down every time they have a few cases,” she said.
“We have not adopted that strategy, we have said let’s keep it open and make a system resilient.”
“So I hope they appreciate that during a pandemic, you are going to have cases, you will have bad days and times when you need to deal with something. And those minor setback shouldn’t mean you shut everything down and stop arrangements.”
Speaking later on Nine’s Today, Ms Berejiklian slapped down suggestions to return to a home quarantining model after the move was floated yesterday.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable not having them quarantine in hotels at this stage, because the number of cases is still quite high. Could you imagine if they were in the community and unintentionally spreading it?,” she said.
She said infection rates in many countries travellers were returning from were “really high” and arrivals needed to be securely managed.
“When we have opportunities to reduce the people in quarantine because they are coming from safe locations I think we should look at that. We can’t get too ahead of ourselves, but I’d be more than happy to be the first state that goes down that path.”
“Touch wood our quarantine system has proved to be successful. We have had a few scares, no system is far from perfect, ours is far from perfect but we are in a position to look at these opportunities to give confidence to tourism, hospital and jobs.”
READ MORE: Albrechtsen — Why only hold business to deadly double standard?
David Ross 8.40am: Help farmers harvest, McCormack tells unemployed
Michael McCormack has spruiked the government’s plans to get more young people into farm work as the agricultural industry faces a labour shortfall on the back of the COVID-crisis.
There are opportunities for people collecting a welfare cheque” to work on farms and “better themselves” the Deputy Prime Minister told Sky.
“If you’re on your surfboard you’re unemployed, you’re on the coast and you want to improve yourself and your nation have a look at what’s available,” he said.
Mr McCormack said that it was particularly important to help out farmers who now have the opportunity to harvest crops after years of drought.
“This is a significant problem for our farmers faced with good rains, faced with the prospect of the best harvest they have had for many, many years,’’ he told ABC News Breakfast. “Many of them are through the drought, they can now reap testimony rewards of their labours. What we want to make sure they can do is get that fruit picked so that it doesn’t rot on the trees.
“These provisions that we are announcing are going to go a long way doing that.”
He flagged the government would announce its final plan within three to four weeks as the cherry harvesting season was rapidly approaching.
“So any person who is unemployed and looking to earn some more money, any backpackers who are fearing that their visa is up and may need to leave the country, well, there’s good news for you,” he said.
“You can stay for longer. You can work for longer and the Harvest Trail needs you.”
Mr McCormack also pointed to ongoing discussions between New Zealand and Australia that would see a border bubble created.
“We’ll take the best advice of the health medical experts, we’ll take their advice. We’ll set up a bubble between our Tasman friends,” he said.
“We need to reopen Australia for international visitors, that will happen, of course, using the best medical advice.”
READ MORE: Editorial — Casual labour shortage a sign of problems to come
Rachel Baxendale 8.32am: Victoria records 13 new cases, 4 deaths
Victoria has recorded 13 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Wednesday.
The 13 cases follow 10 on Tuesday and five on Monday, which was the lowest daily case number since June 12.
#COVID19VicData: Yesterday there were 13 new cases & the loss of 4 lives reported. Our thoughts are with all affected.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) September 29, 2020
The 14 day rolling average & number of cases with unknown source are down from yesterday as we move toward COVID Normal
Info: https://t.co/eTputEZdhs#COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/Yp216DuE58
The four deaths bring Victoria’s coronavirus death toll to 798.
All but 19 of these deaths have occurred as a result of the state’s second wave of coronavirus cases, sparked by breaches in the Andrews government’s hotel quarantine program.
Mebourne’s 14 day daily average number of new cases is now 16.4, down from 18.2 on Tuesday and 29.4 last Wednesday.
This compares with a 14 day daily average of 0.3 in regional Victoria — down from 0.6 on Tuesday.
There have been 21 cases with an unknown source of infection in metropolitan Melbourne in the most recent fortnight for which this statistic is available — down from 27 on Tuesday.
Regional Victoria has had no unknown source cases over the same fortnight, which spans September 14 to September 27.
As of Monday, Victoria’s 9pm to 5am curfew no longer applies, public outdoor gatherings of up to five people from up to two households are allowed, childcare has resumed for parents who are not permitted workers, and school students are set to begin a staged return to the classroom when Term Four resumes on October 5.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Sunday that the next step of easing restrictions for Melburnians will be brought forward to October 19, provided the state reaches a threshold of a 14 day daily average of fewer than five cases, with fewer than five cases with an unknown source over that fortnight.
This would see stay-at-home rules relaxed, and hospitality businesses able to reopen to up to 20 patrons indoors and 50 outdoors.
EWIN HANNAN 7.52am: MUA ‘offers’ olive branch to end docks standoff
The Maritime Union of Australia is proposing a 12-month “peace deal” with Patrick to end their docks standoff, offering to drop industrial action for a year in exchange for rolling over the existing enterprise agreement and a 2.5 per cent pay rise.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the proposed deal would see the union end all legal industrial action at the company’s container terminals and the retention of al existing employee conditions.
“If Patrick refuses this peace offer, the Australian public will be left in no doubt which party is responsible for escalating this unnecessary conflict at such a difficult time for the nation,” he said.
The union will formally make the offer at a private conciliation hearing at the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday, a day ahead of the tribunal hearing Patrick’s application to terminate the protected action at four terminals.
Mr Crumlin said that while the MUA rejected Patrick’s “outlandish and baseless” claims that the industrial action was causing major delays at terminals, the union was acting to address the “concerns of the broader Australian community”.
“When the MUA and Patrick sit down for a conciliation hearing before the Fair Work Commission today, the union will be putting forward this genuine, reasonable, and fair peace offer that could bring the current dispute to an immediate end,” Mr Crumlin said.
“Our proposal does not seek to modify a single word of the existing agreement, so there is no change to the arrangements that Patrick has successfully and profitably operated their container terminals under.
“This peace deal would result in the immediate end to all industrial action at Patrick container terminals, now and for the duration of the agreement.
“It would provide certainty for farmers, exporters, and the general community, and allow Patrick and the union to refocus our efforts on the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID crisis.”
Mr Crumlin said the dispute had never been about money, but Patrick’s desire to “slash the conditions of their workforce under the cover of the COVID crisis”.
“If Patrick refuses this peace offer, the Australian public will be left in no doubt which party is responsible for escalating this unnecessary conflict at such a difficult time for the nation,” he said.
READ MORE: End extortion now, PM tells wharfies
David Ross 7.43am: Warning on early vaccine predictions
ANU infectious diseases specialist Sanjaya Senanayake has warned any vaccine to COVID-19 would come in the middle of 2021 or later rather than the earlier predictions from some.
“It is unprecedented vaccine development, but it does take a long time. I don’t know if it’ll be 2022, but I would have thought at least 2021,” Associate Professor Senanayake told Sunrise.
“I think many were going to have their phase three results at the start of this year, two at the start of next year.”
He also supported the 5km travel restrictions in Melbourne.
“That’s a hard one to answer because when they brought in the road map, there were a whole number of interventions used at the same time,’’ he said. “Face masks, the curfew, the 5km radius. So it is hard to tease out the individual contribution of that 5km radius.
“I suspect, however, as the cases drop, it will become less and less relevant.”
“But the Victorian health authorities have done a great job in getting the numbers down to this low level, so if they want to use it for now, let them use it.”
READ MORE: Hotspots linger as virus recedes
David Ross 7.31am: Ardern: ’NZ to make call soon on travel bubble’
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended her government’s coronavirus restrictions and suggested a trans-Tasman travel bubble is near.
Ms Ardern said her government’s harsh lockdowns had achieved the desired effect of keeping unemployment low.
“Our unemployment, we have managed to keep it low. it’s actually the predictions on employment that have come down, also our debt compared to other countries looking to remain low compared to others,” she told Seven’s Sunrise this morning.
“The most important measure of all, the impact on our people’s health, you know, our death rate. Very low. And so it all depends on what you measure success.”
“We went hard early because it allowed us to open up quickly and it allowed us to get our economy moving quickly again and it allowed us to keep our people safe.”
“But I’ve always felt that I did the right thing for us.”
Ms Ardern said the change in approach from Australia towards an NZ-Australia travel bubble made her more hopeful of reopening travel between the countries sooner.
“We were waiting for your borders to be open. It looks like you are adopting more of a hotspot regime. We are hoping it gives us an opportunity to open sooner,” she said.
“We will be looking to what decisions you make on what qualifies a hotspot, then we will make a call.”
Ms Ardern’s TV appearances come as overseas voting for Kiwis in the country’s upcoming election begins today.
Speaking later on Nine’s Today Ms Ardern said whatever plan was put in place it needed to respect New Zealand’s strategy of keeping the country COVID-free.
“We will just need to make sure that that hot spot regime works on our side too. We are all quite dedicated to making it work in the future,” she said.
“We need to keep in mind things can change at any time. Obviously, Australia has had its experience in Victoria, we have had ours recently in Auckland, so we are all very mindful of that.”
READ MORE: Get city hearts pumping again, Morrison says
David Ross 7.22am: Home quarantine ‘good enough for all Aussies’
Liberal National Queensland politician Matt Canavan has supported the potential reopening of Australian borders to New Zealanders.
“They don’t have coronavirus. They’ve got strict border controls. I’m happy for Kiwis to come back,” Senator Canavan told Nine’s Today show this morning.
He also supported the proposal to have home-quarantine introduced for Australian travellers.
“I home quarantined a couple of weeks ago on returning from Canberra. If it is good enough for pollies, I think it should be good enough for other Aussies,” he said.
“We have to get Australians home. It is tough for those stranded overseas and we have to try and help them out.”
Australians were originally required to home quarantine in the early weeks of the pandemic, however, the scheme was scrapped amid repeated incidents of travellers failing to quarantine and spreading the virus in the community.
The suggestion comes as West Australia looks to introduce home quarantining for Victorians and residents of NSW using an app to ensure compliance.
Senator Canavan said he thought the Victorian restrictions were proving effective but the timetable of reopening needed to be sped up.
“I think the Victorian government has been moving on this and hopefully they can keep responding to the public pressure to outline a proper timeline for reopening,” he said.
“The Victorian government hasn’t been clear on what they’re trying to actually target. We saw the other day that the resigned Health Minister saying that there is a secret plan for elimination of the coronavirus in Victoria and the premier being at odds with her.”
“What are they doing? They have to be upfront with the Victorian and the Australian people.”
READ MORE: Border rules ease as app allows remote checking
David Ross 7.07am: Million deaths ‘agonising, mind-numbing’
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the global death toll, which passed 1 million yesterday, is “agonising” and “mind-numbing”.
“The pain has been multiplied by the savageness of this disease. Risks of infection kept families from bedsides. And the process of mourning and celebrating a life was often made impossible,” he said.
The outbreak of COVID-19, which began in Wuhan in November before spreading rapidly around the world, has now infected more than 33 million people in 188 different countries.
But some countries continue to avoid the worst of the viral wave. Fiji has recorded only 32 cases of COVID-19.
Several countries account for a vast swath of infections, with the United States, India, and Brazil have seen as many as 17.9m of their citizens infected.
But the true scale of infections is likely much more, with recent research suggesting India was now unable to capture the true extent of its outbreak, while other countries are actively minimising reported case numbers.
This comes after the World Health Organisation announced yesterday that it would roll out 120m rapid testing kits to deliver preliminary results in 15-20 minutes.
Europe is now being slammed by a second wave of infections, with several countries now under new lockdowns and others close behind.
Germany, once seen as a strong performer against the virus, is headed for 19,200 cases a day of COVID-19 unless urgent action is taken, it’s chancellor Angela Merkel warned.
But the chancellor is resisting calls for a national lockdown, instead pushing for localised restrictions.
Several cities in France are under lockdowns, while the UK has now reported 7143 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday., the highest case count since July.
The virus is also experiencing a resurgence in New York City despite the city already being slammed in the first wave of COVID-19 earlier in the year.
Positive case counts are now climbing above 3 per cent, well above the 1-1.5 per cent being reported earlier in the pandemic.
Medical experts believe a positive case count rate above 5 per cent is highly concerning as it does not capture the majority of people infected with the virus.
The city will now impose fines on people who refuse to wear a face covering and who reject the offer of a free mask that would be provided by city officials.
READ MORE: UK recruits infected with Covid-lite
Imogen Reid 7am: Moderna vaccine shows positive results in elderly
A potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by a company in the United States has shown promising results among the generation most at risk from the deadly virus.
An initial trial of the treatment created by Moderna, a clinical-stage biotech firm, has been found to produce a positive immune response in adults aged 56 to 70-years-old and showed antibody responses in the older population that were similar to those reported among vaccine recipients between the ages of 18 and 55 years.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, said adverse reactions in candidates were “predominantly mild or moderate in severity” and included fatigue, chills, headache, myalgia, and pain around the injection.
“Such adverse effects were dose-dependent and were common after the second immunisation,” the authors of the study said.
“Binding-antibody responses increased rapidly after the first immunisation.”
It comes after the trial of a COVID-19 vaccine under development by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca was put on hold after a participant suffered a serious adverse reaction.
The trial has since resumed and recently moved into the third phase of testing, which involves 30,000 participants in the US, Britain, Brazil and South Africa.
AstraZeneca said that an independent British review had “concluded its investigations and recommended to the (Medicines Health Regulatory Authority) that trials in the UK are safe to resume”.
The chief executive of AstraZeneca has said that it is “still feasible†that the Covid-19 vaccine that it is developing with the University of Oxford could be available by the end of the year, despite being forced to stop trials.https://t.co/QhbRP6GH0g
— The Australian (@australian) September 10, 2020
The Australian government has signed a deal with Oxford University and AstraZeneca for access to a successful vaccine, with another agreement in place with CSL and the University of Queensland.
READ MORE: Editorial — COVID-19 tests our democratic system
Remy Varga 5.15am: Andrews says bureaucrats ‘are acting appropriately’
Daniel Andrews has backed three of his most senior public servants, who have been accused of failing to keep him and key ministers informed about major problems in Victoria’s quarantine regime which sparked the state’s second-wave COVID-19 outbreak.
In the wake of damning recommendations by counsel assisting the state’s hotel quarantine inquiry that it find the government responsible for failing to contain the virus, the Victorian Premier said he remained “confident’’ his senior bureaucrats had acted appropriately.
On Monday, council assisting the hotel quarantine inquiry Ben Ihle and the other counsels assisting, Tony Neal QC and Rachel Ellyard, criticised Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles, Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kym Peake and Department of Jobs secretary Simon Phemister.
But Mr Andrews said yesterday he had sought assurances that the three departmental heads were acting appropriately.
“I am aware of what the inquiry’s heard and I’m aware what submissions were led by counsel assisting yesterday,” he said. “You’ve asked me what assurances I have sought: I’m indicating to you that I am confident that those three public servants, indeed all public servants, are acting appropriately.”
Read the full story, by Remy Varga, Rachel Baxendale and Ewin Hannan, here.
Rosie Lewis 5am: New incentives to keep seasonal workers on the job
Backpackers, Pacific Islanders and seasonal workers will be able to extend their visas to stay in Australia longer and welfare recipients will be offered incentives to join the harvest trail and pick fruit, in a budget package designed to stem a critical labour shortage.
Confirmation of the measures, which will be funded in Tuesday’s budget, comes as Australia’s growers face a workforce gap of nearly 30,000 people by March.
In the first report to put a number on the horticulture industry’s labour shortfall during the COVID-19 pandemic, EY found growers expected to fill just six out of 10 short-term roles in the next six to 12 months.
The international and state border closures pose the greatest barriers to farmers finding enough casuals to pick and pack Australia’s fruit and vegetables. The Australian understands the Morrison government will remove conditions on visas used by working holiday-makers and other foreign nationals that would ordinarily force them to return home.
The age limit of 30 on the working holiday-maker visa will be scrapped, for example, so people aged 31 and older could continue working in agriculture.
Read the full story here.
Joe Kelly 4.45am: Border rules ease as app allows remote checking
Western Australia’s border rules have been eased, with arrivals from Victoria no longer having to quarantine in a hotel from Monday and allowed to self-isolate at a suitable home for two weeks.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said new entrants, who would still require an exemption, would be tested on day one and day 11 under the plan, which he said was aimed at easing the demand on hotels with the number of international arrivals requiring quarantine set to increase.
He also unveiled a new platform, dubbed the G2G Now App, to “complement the work of WA police” and allow them to check in on people remotely while in self-quarantine in what he argued was an “Australian-first”.
Read the full story here.
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