Coronavirus Australia live news: Educators beg China to lift travel ban as medical chiefs stay on alert
The international education sector is pleading with Beijing to lift its travel boycott on Chinese visitors to Australia as state-owned media warns the step is merely the “the tip of the iceberg”.
- Free childcare to end in July
- China’s tourist warning ‘tip of iceberg’
- Victorian MPs flouted restrictions
- Police use of pepper spray ‘appropriate’
- Thousands rush for HomeBuilder grant
- Kennett slams lack of state leadership
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Free childcare will end in July to be replaced by a $708m package. Two Victorian MPs are in hot water for flouting restrictions to attend a weekend rally. The NSW police minister defends officers using pepper spray during a Black Lives Matter protest. More than 8000 Australians have registered interest in accessing $25,000 HomeBuilder grants, with Victoria and Queensland leading the “surge”.
Paige Taylor 1:15am: Last cruise passengers disembark in Germany
The last eight cruise ship passengers in the world have made dry land in Germany after an epic and tragic ordeal that began when coronavirus was detected onboard their vessel as it anchored off Perth on March 25.
The MV Artania arrived in Western Australia after sending out an SOS for sick passengers and crew. The McGowan government was at the time determined not to repeat the mistakes that allowed infected Ruby Princess passengers to disembark at Sydney’s Circular Quay and initially blocked the ship from docking, instead sending health officials to test those onboard with symptoms.
In the first days of the crisis, 40 passengers – mostly Germans who boarded the ship in Brehmerhaven for an around-the-world adventure on December 19, were found to have COVID-19. Eventually dozens were taken to hotel quarantine and hospital in Perth where two passengers and a crew member died.
On March 30, 800 passengers and crew from the Swiss-owned cruise ship flew to Frankfurt on mercy flights arranged by the German government. Around 400 crew and eight passengers remained onboard for a marathon journey back to Bremerhaven via southeast Asia, which is home to many of the crew. Nobody onboard was found to be ill, but some passengers were deemed unfit to fly for other health reasons or opted not to. The ship left Perth on April 18.
A spokeswoman for the ship owner Phoenix Reisen told The Australian the MV Artania had arrived safely back in Germany on Monday local time. While most crew had already disembarked during stops including Bali and Manila, about 75 crew and eight passengers were onboard as captain Morten Hansen completed the ship’s return journey.
“Artania has arrived this morning (at) Bremerhaven. The last eight cruise passengers worldwide were disembarked, ship will stay for three days in Bremerhaven, after this going to Emden,” the spokeswoman confirmed in an email.
Associated Press 9pm: India eases lockdown as cases jump in capital
With shopping centres, places of worship, restaurants and state borders reopening on Monday, some of the last vestiges of India’s 10-week coronavirus lockdown disappeared even as the country reported its highest single-day death toll and experts said things would get worse.
In the capital, New Delhi, shoppers applied hand sanitiser and underwent temperature checks before entering Ambience Mall, where a sign read: “Welcome back to the lifestyle you love.”
But a committee of experts warned the New Delhi government that such measures would do little to slow the infection rate, and that it would need to nearly double its hospital bed capacity by the end of this month as the number of cases needing treatment is expected to surge.
With cases doubling every two weeks, “we will require 15,000 beds by the end of June,” the committee’s head, Mahesh Verma, wrote to the government. About a quarter of New Delhi’s 83 hospitals treating COVID-19 patients were full by Monday afternoon, according to a government-run online dashboard. About half of the city’s 512 available ventilators were in use.
The numbers have crossed 28,000 in the capital, stretching limited health resources.
Over the weekend, New Delhi’s top official, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, said hospital beds would be limited to city residents, amid rising demand from people in the neighbouring corporate hubs of Noida in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Gurugram in Haryana state.
The Health Ministry reported another 9983 cases on Monday, raising India’s count past 256,000 to fifth most in the world. It also reported 206 fatalities, the highest single-day rise, bringing the country’s death toll to 7135.
READ MORE: Council green plans canned to help put budgets in the black
AFP 8.18pm: Declared cases top seven million globally
Declared coronavirus infections topped seven million globally, about two-thirds in Europe and the US, according to a tally of official figures on Monday by the news service Agence France-Presse.
At least 7,003,851 cases have been officially recorded around the world, including 402,867 deaths, and Europe is the hardest-hit continent with 2,275,305 cases and 183,542 deaths. The US has recorded 1,942,363 cases and 110,514 deaths since the outbreak first emerged in China late last year.
The number of cases reported globally has doubled in just over a month, and more than one million cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the past nine days.
READ MORE: Rules lifted as NZ is declared free of coronavirus
AFP 7.45pm: No school without vaccine, Philippines says
Tens of millions of children in the Philippines will not be allowed back to school until a coronavirus vaccine is available, officials have announced, saying they may have to broadcast lessons on TV.
President Rodrigo Duterte said last month that even if students could not graduate, they needed to stay out of school to fight the spread of the disease.
“We will comply with the President’s directive to postpone face-to-face classes until a vaccine is available,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said on Monday.
Classes are to resume at the end of August and teachers will use distance learning methods via the internet or TV broadcasts where needed, Ms Briones added.
Millions live in deep poverty in the Philippines and do not have access to computers at home, which is key to the viability of online classes.
“The teacher and the school will have to adjust... depending on the availability of communication,” Ms Briones said.
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Rebecca Urban 7pm: Council green plans canned to help budgets
Some of the country’s greenest municipalities have put much-vaunted climate-related projects on the backburner as the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic forces them to reprioritise spending.
Read the full story here
Richard Ferguson 6.35pm: Abbott demands end to restrictions
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called for all coronavirus restrictions to be lifted, saying Australians need to be “free” and pandemic measures should have ended weeks ago.
Mr Abbott — who received Australia’s highest civilian honour on Monday — said Australia had done “wonderfully well” in tackling the virus, but restrictions had to be removed to start the economic recovery.
The former Liberal leader also praised the left-wing government of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for lifting restrictions before Australia.
“We’ve done wonderfully well in checking, virtually extinguishing, the coronavirus in this country. I think it’s time to drop the restrictions and let us be free,” he told Sky News.
“New Zealand has done comparably well. Even the left-wing government in New Zealand is saying people can be free again. To live their own lives without anyone — premiers, prime ministers, chief medical officers — ordering them around.
“At the moment, because of a whole lot of sensible government payments, we’re not feeling the economic pain. But soon we will.
“Particularly if this lockdown goes on a day longer than is absolutely necessary, and I think we past that point some weeks ago.”
READ MORE: Rules lifted as NZ is declared free of coronavirus
Richard Ferguson 6.10pm: Education groups urge China to lift travel boycott
The international education sector is pleading with Beijing to lift its travel boycott on Chinese visitors to Australia as state-owned media warns the step is merely the “the tip of the iceberg”.
The International Education Association and the Group of Eight universities will lobby the Chinese embassy in Canberra over the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s warning at the weekend that citizens should avoid Australia because of racist attacks.
But China’s Global Times wrote on Monday that Australia’s positions on Hong Kong, foreign investment and a global investigation into the origins of coronavirus also played a role in the travel advice.
“It is Australia’s unfriendly attitude, not the travel alert, that may really scare away Chinese tourists and students,” the Beijing mouthpiece writes.
“If Australia wants to retain the gain from its economic ties with China, it must make a real change to its current stance on China, or it will completely lose the benefits of Chinese consumers. The tourism loss may be just a tip of iceberg in its loss of Chinese interest.”
The tourism and international education attacks by China come weeks after the CCP imposed tariffs on Australian barley farmers and suspended imports from four abattoirs.
A loss of Chinese students after the pandemic would increase the loss of nearly $12bn universities are expecting from restrictions on entries from China.
The Group of Eight – representing the top universities in the country – plans to send a letter to Chinese ambassador to Australia Cheng Jengye asking for his nation to reconsider the advice.
IEA chief executive Phil Honeywood said 35 per cent of all foreign students who come to Australia are Chinese and their parents would be swayed by Beijing’s advice.
“We certainly want reconsideration on this decision from China. It’s of significant concern … China is our number one source country,” he said.
Read the full story here
Rachel Baxendale 5.20pm: Police close popular Victorian pier
Police have closed a popular pier on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula due to “a disappointing amount of people failing to observe social-distancing measures”.
Monday’s closure came two days after thousands of Victorians gathered in Melbourne’s CBD for a Black Lives Matter Protest. Police urged people not to attend Saturday’s protest, but opted to only issue fines to the organisers.
On Monday they issued a statement on the Eyewatch — Mornington Peninsula Police Service Area facebook page, saying Rye Pier would be closed until further notice.
“Due to a disappointing amount of people failing to observe social-distancing measures, the decision has been reached by council and local Police to close the pier,” police said.
“Please do not attend, as you will be advised to move on.
“Victoria Police reminds locals and holiday-makers alike that social distancing measures are still active in the State of Victoria, and that if similar behaviour is observed on the Mornington Peninsula, more piers and local attractions may be forced to close in the interests of public health.”
Gatherings of more than 20 are illegal in Victoria under the directions of the Chief Health Officer.
The closure of the pier comes amid fears of a second wave of infections as a result of Saturday’s protest, and as the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed a COVID-19 case in a resident of a nursing home in the north east Victorian town of Bright.
The case at Hawthorn Village aged care home, which is yet to be linked to any other cases, is the first detected in Victoria’s Alpine Shire since the pandemic began.
State opposition police spokesman David Southwick said Saturday’s protest had been a “slap in the face” for all Victorians who had been locked down, doing the right thing, blaming “confused” messaging from Premier Daniel Andrews, who urged people not to attend the protest but back the police decision not to fine attendees.
Richard Ferguson 5pm: Protesting politicians cleared to attend parliament
Politicians have the green light to come to Canberra even if they attended Black Lives Matter rallies over the weekend.
Education Minister Dan Tehan said Greens senator Janet Rice should reconsider coming to the capital for the sitting fortnight because she attended the Melbourne march.
But Deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said the nation’s top medical panel was only advising protesters — including politicians — to self isolate if they developed flu-like symptoms.
“We have got to remember we don’t know what will happen as a result of these protests,” he said on Monday.
“There is no current recommendation that people who attended those mass gatherings
should do anything different. In fact, do exactly the same thing — which is get tested if they become unwell.”
Dr Coatsworth said in Canberra it would take two weeks to figure out whether the mass protests had spread COVID-19, and it would not delay the easing of restrictions for now.
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AAP 4.20pm: Medical chiefs on alert after protests
Australia’s chief health officers are on alert for signs of coronavirus spreading from weekend protests around the country.
Deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said on Monday the next two to three weeks would give an idea of the fallout from the rallies in solidarity with the US Black Lives Matter movement.
“We can’t crystal-ball gaze at all. We hope there are minimal cases resulting from the protests but we will wait and see,” he said.
Australia’s chief health officers met on Monday to discuss the next step in easing coronavirus restrictions.
The expert panel did not discuss whether protesters should be told to self-isolate for two weeks after attending the demonstrations.
Dr Coatsworth said Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone’s call for quarantine was precautionary. He said testing people with symptoms was critical.
The return of crowds to professional sport is under Australian Health Protection Principal Committee consideration.
“There may well be a way to do that in a safe, measured way in the coming months,” Dr Coatsworth said.
There have been 102 coronavirus deaths in Australia, with fewer than 460 cases active across the country.
There were five new cases detected overnight — three in NSW and two in Victoria — but people are mostly catching the disease overseas.
A total of 61 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Australia over the past week, down from 91 a week earlier.
Despite the fears, organisers of the second Black Lives Matter protest in Perth refused to apply for an exemption to host more than 300 people under coronavirus restrictions.
Co-organiser Tanesha Bennell said no exemption had been sought for the first rally, last Tuesday, which drew about 2000 people.
But the venue for the second event, on Saturday, has changed to Langley Park to provide people with more space to physically distance.
Protesters are also urged to bring their own water bottles, face masks and hand sanitiser.
In a social media post, co-organiser Jacinta Taylor-Foster said they were doing everything they could to ensure the safety of everyone participating.
“If you are sick and vulnerable, we urge you to stay home,” she said.
Ms Taylor-Foster said there had been 434 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991, and there were also shocking statistics on indigenous education, health and life expectancy.
“Aboriginal people are trying to survive every day of their lives within systems that are not made for us to thrive. This must change now,” she said.
“For politicians feigning concern, use the position that you are in now to actually do something about this, so that we don’t have to consistently protest and campaign.”
Premier Mark McGowan has urged protesters to follow COVID-19 restrictions. Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has said the right to protest was important but community health must not be put at risk.
WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt said he was concerned indigenous people, who are more vulnerable to the virus, might travel from the regions for the protest and potentially become exposed.
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Kieran Gair 1.30pm: Fighters stage Sydney Opera House protest
Former world boxing champion Sakio Bika and other fighters held a peaceful vigil on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on Monday in solidarity with George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter cause.
Eight champion boxers assembled on the steps of the Opera House shortly after 12pm in a bid to highlight racial injustice, black deaths in custody at home and abroad, and the high levels of incarceration faced by Indigenous Australians.
The peaceful vigil comes after the nation’s top experts met on Monday to discuss the threat of COVID-19 outbreaks following the weekend’s mass rallies around the country.
Mr Bika, who moved to Australia from Cameroon after participating in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, told The Australian the vigil was designed to “keep the country’s eyes” on the plight of black people as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve come together in solidarity and support of George Floyd in the US who was killed by a police officer,” said the former world boxing champion.
The group wore black t-shirts with the words “Hands up” and “I can’t breathe” in reference to the final words uttered by unarmed black man George Floyd whose death two weeks ago at the hands of Minneapolis police has sparked worldwide protests.
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Max Maddison 1.20pm: AMA wants demonstrators to self-isolate
The President of the Australian Medical Association has urged the tens of thousands of protesters to get tested and consider two weeks in isolation, to minimise the risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
In a press conference today, Dr Tony Bartone said “anyone attending any of those rallies must get tested”.
“In the spirit of an abundance of caution, it is appropriate that they consider their role and their position, and look at the option of isolating themselves from the rest of the community,” Dr Bartone said.
“It is the abundance of caution that we will ensure we don’t see an outbreak of uptick in cases”.
This would ensure that the “hard work” of the past three months wasn’t “wasted”, Dr Bartone said.
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Richard Ferguson 1.10pm: Beijing tourist warning ‘tip of the iceberg’
Beijing’s warnings against tourist travel to Australia may be “the tip of the iceberg” in a worsening relationship, a leading Chinese communist propaganda outfit warns.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Sunday told its citizens not to go to Australia because of “racist” attacks by Australians.
The Global Times – known as a mouthpiece for the Chinese regime – writes on Monday that Australia’s actions on foreign investment, a global COVID-19 inquiry and its position on Hong Kong are factors in the recent travel advice.
“It is Australia’s unfriendly attitude, not the travel alert, that may really scare away Chinese tourists and students,” the Beijing mouthpiece writes.
“From its push for a US-led inquiry into COVID-19 to its interference in the Hong Kong affair and the upcoming overhaul of its foreign investment rules that are expected to tighten scrutiny over foreign investment, Australian politicians are demonstrating their antipathy toward China.
“If Australia wants to retain the gain from its economic ties with China, it must make a real change to its current stance on China, or it will completely lose the benefits of Chinese consumers. The tourism loss may be just a tip of iceberg in its loss of Chinese interest.”
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Agencies 12.55pm: China reports just four new cases — all imported
China says it has four new coronavirus cases, all of them brought from outside China, AP reports. China has recorded a total of 4,634 deaths out of 83,040 total cases since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese industrial city of Wuhan late last year.
China has increasingly opened up with the sharp reduction of cases, and the capital Beijing on Monday said it was reopening the office where citizens can bring their complaints and petitions.
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Max Maddison 12.20pm: NSW reports three new coronavirus cases
NSW has reported three new cases of coronavirus overnight, amid fears of a second outbreak linked to the weekend’s Black Lives Matter protests.
While two of the cases are travellers in hotel quarantine, the third is under investigation, raising fears of community transmission. The fresh cases brought the number of confirmed cases to 3112.
Health authorities will nervously be looking for any spike in the rate of infection, after tens of thousands gathered in Sydney, defying the requests of chief medical officers and politicians, to rally in support of George Floyd.
5,950 tests carried out in the reporting period, compared with 9,207 in the previous 24 hours. Over 571,000 COVID-19 tests have been carried out across the state.
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Richard Ferguson 12pm: Eligibility rules eased amid overhaul
Education Minister Dan Tehan will relax eligibility rules for the pre-pandemic childcare subsidy to help families keep their children in child care.
With free childcare ending on July 12, the government will now pay out $2bn in childcare subsidies in the next financial quarter and relax the activity test for eligible parents.
“What that will enable parents who have lost their work to do is to be able to get access to support because of those changes we have made to the activity test,” Mr Tehan said in Canberra.
“When it comes to the activity test, they will have to pay minimal fees, the fees that they were paying previously.
“But if they have seen reduced income, what the activity test changes mean is that those payments that they make will be up to the gap and no more.”
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Richard Ferguson 11.50am: Free childcare scheme to come to an end
Free childcare for Australian parents will end next month and workers in the sector will be kicked off JobKeeper wage subsidies.
Education Minister Dan Tehan has revealed parents will resume paying fees for their children’s care on July 12.
Childcare centres will receive a transition payment worth 25 per cent of their fee revenue — $780m in total — to keep them afloat until September and replace JobKeeper.
“Demand for places in the sector has increased as have over 74 per cent now is where the demand is at right across every part of the sector. So what we need to be able to do is offer more places,” he said.
“We put in place a temporary measure which was designed to help the sector when it was on the brink of collapse, when demand was collapsing. What we now have to do is design a package which deals with increased demand and that is what this package does.”
Agencies 11.30am: New Zealand now free of Covid-19 cases
New Zealand is COVID-19 free after the recovery of the person with the last active case of the virus on Monday, AAP reports.
The final case, an Auckland woman in her 50s, has now recovered from the virus. New Zealand’s cabinet is meeting to discuss easing to zero restrictions, other than border controls.
It’s the first time since February 28 that New Zealand has no active cases. Read more here
Richard Ferguson 11.15am: Fate of free childcare to be decided
Education Minister Dan Tehan is set to reveal the fate of free childcare in Australia this morning.
Mr Tehan will speak in Canberra at 11.30am and is expected to announce whether free childcare – brought in to help essential workers during the early days of the pandemic – will be extended past June 28, or end completely.
Scott Morrison and the Education Minister have repeatedly said free childcare is a temporary measure and it was unlikely to be extended past its current end-date.
Rachel Baxendale 11.10am: Aged care residents quarantined as case revealed
A resident of an aged care facility in north east Victoria is among two new cases of coronavirus confirmed on Monday.
The case at Hawthorn Village in Bright, which is yet to be linked to any other cases, is the first detected in Victoria’s Alpine Shire since the pandemic began.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services said the resident was being isolated in hospital where they were transferred for an unrelated condition.
“About 25 remaining residents of Hawthorn Village in Bright have been placed in quarantine and contact tracing has begun,” DHHS said.
“The families of residents have been advised of the situation. We are working closely with the facility to ensure appropriate public health actions have been taken, including isolation, quarantine and cleaning.
“Close contacts will be ordered into home quarantine and all residents and staff at the facility will be tested.”
Monday’s other new case was detected in a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Victoria is now 1687. The state’s death toll remains 19, with no deaths in recent days.
There have been 177 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that have been acquired through unknown transmission, which is unchanged from yesterday.
There are 71 active cases in Victoria, and seven are in hospital, two in intensive care. 1,595 people have recovered.
Of the total 1,687 cases, there have been 1,403 in metropolitan Melbourne and 236 in regional Victoria. Several cases remain under investigation.
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Max Maddison 11am: In-person citizenship ceremonies set to resume
Face-to-face citizenship ceremonies will recommence, as another COVID enforced restriction is lifted.
Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge announced the resumption this morning, which means councils now can choose to have citizenship ceremonies in-person, online, or both. Over 25,000 immigrants have become Australian citizens through online ceremonies during the lockdown.
“Now that restrictions are easing, councils will once again be able to host small ceremonies in line with the public gathering requirements in their state or territory,” Mr Tudge said.
“The government is also working to resume citizenship testing and interviews in the coming weeks so we can have people moving through all stages of becoming Australian citizens.”
— With AAP
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Sarah Elks 10.30am: No new cases in Qld, Premier comes under fire
Queensland has not recorded any new coronavirus cases overnight, with just three active cases remaining in the state.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk tweeted that QLD now had 1062 confirmed cases, and 1050 people had recovered.
221,212 tests have been conducted in the state.
Opposition leader Deb Frecklington continued to criticise the government for not discouraging people from gathering in their masses to protest Aboriginal deaths in custody on the weekend.
Ms Frecklington said her concern was not “about the issue” but about inconsistencies in coronavirus-control restrictions. She said it was not fair that only 20 people were allowed at funerals, but 30,000 gathered at a protest on Saturday.
She said indigenous health and life expectancy were “top of mind” for her.
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Rachel Baxendale 10.10am: Kennett tells activists: Donate, volunteer
Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett has called on people concerned about indigenous incarceration rates and deaths in custody to not just express concern, but “do something” by donating or volunteering.
Mr Kennett is chairman of community group The Torch -- which provides support to Indigenous offenders and ex-offenders in Victoria through art, cultural and arts vocational programs.
“We have a disproportionate number of indigenous men and women in prisons around Australia over and above their percentage of the population. We also have a totally unacceptable recidivism rate among our indigenous community, Mr Kennett said.
“Expressing concern is healthy, but I challenge them to actually do something, to give funds or work with community groups that are trying to deal with this.
“Gathering is easy, but gathering alone won’t change anything.
Mr Kennett said the recidivism rate among indigenous prisoners and former prisoners who have been part of The Torch’s programs was 11 per cent, as opposed to 60 per cent in the wider indigenous community.
He said that while he shared the concerns of protesters about indigenous incarceration rates, “what we saw on the weekend throughout Australia in the main was in violation of the laws of the day, and that is disappointing.”
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Max Maddison 10am: NSW deputy premier calls protesters ‘reckless’
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has labelled the Black Lives Matter protests as “reckless” and says he’s confident that police make the “right call” in “tough circumstances”.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Barilaro said while everyone has the right to protest, we were living “very unique times”.
“I condemned those marches on the weekend because we have just spent months and months putting lockdowns in place, to protect all lives … businesses have been hurt and the economy has been smashed,” Mr Barilaro said.
“It was reckless and those protests shouldn’t have gone ahead.”
On the use of pepper spray by police, Mr Barilaro said if officers decided they needed that measure, then it was “appropriate”.
“That’s always the first accusation of our police, it’s always that they’re heavy handed. I’m confident our police made the right call in very tough circumstances,” Mr Barilaro.
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Max Maddison 9.35am: Cormann doubles down on protest criticism
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has defended his choice of language on Today, saying the protests exposed the community to an “unacceptable and unnecessary risk”.
“I think there has to be a reality check here. I mean, the issue at hand is a very important and legitimate issue, of course. That is not the question,” Mr Cormann said,
“But right now, in the middle of a pandemic, to pursue these sorts of mass gatherings is completely reckless and irresponsible.”
In response to the outrage surrounding his comments, Mr Cormann said while everyone was entitled to their opinions, he was simply expressing a view that was widely shared.
The Finance Minister said another outbreak was a “real threat” and encouraged everyone who attended the protest to download the COVID-19 app in case a second wave did appear
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Max Maddison 9.05am: Ken Wyatt backs Cormann on protests
The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, has defended Mathias Cormann’s labelling of protesters as “self-indulgent” and “reckless”.
Mr Wyatt, speaking on the ABC, said the point was about the possible spread of coronavirus in vulnerable communities, and cited Mr Cormann’s support on a number of indigenous affairs initiatives he had put forward as minister.
“Well, during a period of a pandemic, the frightening element of that is if there was somebody who was asymptomatic walking among a population that is highly vulnerable … you have exposed yourselves to potential outbreaks within a vulnerable community,” Mr Wyatt said.
On the destruction of the Pilbara cultural site in West Australia, Mr Wyatt concedes more should have been done to protect the 46,000-year-old heritage site, calling the destruction a “terrible outcome”.
“No site should ever be damaged. When I spoke with the traditional owners, one of them was explaining to me the absolute cultural relevance both those caves had and the destruction of them is like destroying the heart of the community because of the significance,” Mr Wyatt said.
“When you consider 46,000 years plus of continuity with both those sites, then it was a terrible outcome and we will work to try and circumvent those for the future.”
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Max Maddison 8.45am: Victorian MPs flouted Covid restrictions
Two Victorian politicians are in hot water after breaching coronavirus restrictions to attend a Black Lives Matter rally on Saturday.
Upper house Liberal Democrat MP David Limbrick and Victorian Greens Senator Janet Rice both were among 10,000 protesters at the Melbourne rally.
Federal and state officials had urged people to stay home due to health concerns.
Ms Rice, who was there for around an hour, said it was a “really difficult decision” before heading into a sitting week, but argued it was okay because she had minimal contact with others.
“I did everything I could to minimise the risk down to a level which I feel given the current restrictions was something that I felt was acceptable,” she said.
Mr Limbrick said he had attended Saturday’s protest because he wanted to witness the event and hear from those there in person.
“I’d heard that some of the protesters might plan to cause trouble, and I’ve also seen problems with some of the police at rallies in the past, so I wanted to see for myself what was going on,” Mr Limbrick said.
“I’m happy to report that both protesters and police all behaved respectfully to each other. Organisers were handing out hand sanitisers, masks and gloves to try to control the risk of disease transmission.
“There were lots of voices at the rally. My main takeaway was that they had some legitimate grievances about Aboriginal people in custody which is something that I also have concerns about.”
The libertarian said he believed the policing of COVID-19 fines in Victoria had been “too heavy-handed from the start”, and encouraged anyone who had received a fine during the pandemic to challenge it.
Victoria had imposed 5957 fines as of May 28, compared with 1290 in NSW and 2069 in Queensland.
— Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale
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Max Maddison 8.10am: France’s latest numbers paint optimistic picture
France has recorded its fewest number of new deaths since mid-March, with only 13 hospitalised fatalities overnight.
With the fifth highest COVID-19 death toll in the world, France has continued to get on top of the spread of the outbreak and has slowly eased restrictions across the country.
The last time France’s death toll was this low was 12 deaths on March 14.
France has had 191,102 confirmed cases – the ninth-most in the world.
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Max Maddison 7.40am: Pepper spray use on protesters ‘appropriate’
NSW Police Minister David Elliott says the use of pepper spray on protesters was an “appropriate response” to provoked behaviour.
Speaking on Sydney radio 2GB, Mr Elliott said the advice he had from police was the use of pepper spray, which resulted in widespread condemnation, was necessary due to “kids breaking windows and spitting”.
However, despite tens of thousands turning out, Mr Elliott praised the response of the police and organisers in ensuring the Black Lives Matter was generally incident-free. Despite this, Mr Elliott said he and Premier Gladys Berejiklian didn’t want to see anymore protests for the time being.
“My view is that because of the health orders, and Covid is ongoing, we just can’t issue these permits (to protest),” Mr Elliott told host Ben Fordham.
Even if the protests didn’t result in a spike of coronavirus cases, Mr Elliott said football crowds were unlikely to be seen for a considerable while as “we don’t want to push fate”.
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Max Maddison 7.10am: NT senator backs protest movement
Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy has used an appearance on Nine’s Today program to urge Mathias Cormann and the Prime Minister to “pull together” a national cabinet to deal with high rates of incarceration and Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Responding to Senator Corman’s criticism of the tens of thousands of people gathered for Black Lives Matters protests, Ms McCarthy, a member of the Labor Party, said change was already underway, “I would say to people it’s time to get on board or get out of the way.”
“What is irresponsible is that this country is not listening to the voices of First Nations people. What is irresponsible is First Nations people and those who support the movement are being blamed unfairly,” Ms McCarthy said.
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Max Maddison 6.30am: US coronavirus cases near 2 million
Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US are approaching 2m with an additional 29,214 cases reported overnight. This was accompanied by 709 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 109,901.
India recorded an additional 9971 new cases in the past 24 hours. The news comes as the country prepares to relax lockdown restrictions, with 257,392 confirmed cases and 7207 deaths.
Saudia Arabia moved past another grim milestone, after 3045 confirmed cases overnight bringing the total to over 100,000. With official records now at 101,914, the Middle Eastern country has had 712 deaths.
Canada reported another 70 deaths overnight, taking the death toll to 7773. The grisly figure came with 722 confirmed cases, the Public Health Agency reported, taking the total number of cases to 95,057.
READ MORE: Anger across states as protests defy lockdown laws
Geoff Chambers 5.30am: Thousands rush to access $25,000 HomeBuilder grants
More than 8000 Australians have registered interest in accessing $25,000 HomeBuilder grants, with Victoria and Queensland leading the “surge” in securing funds from the construction scheme expected to pump up to $15bn into the economy.
States and territories are now moving to deliver additional stimulus for the building industry following the Morrison government’s unveiling of its $688m uncapped program, with Western Australia announcing its own generous housing assistance scheme on Sunday.
Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said there had been more than 130,000 visits to the HomeBuilder website as of Saturday night.
“The government expects HomeBuilder will be overwhelmingly supported by first-home buyers, many on lower incomes, looking at purchasing a house-and-land package and growing families seeking to upgrade to a larger new home,” Mr Sukkar told The Australian.
“It will of course include, in some cases, people who will undertake a substantial rebuild of their existing home to meet their future needs.”
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Rachel Baxendale 5.15am: ‘We need to start moving, open borders’: Kennett
Premiers are facing a growing backlash over COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions after allowing tens of thousands of protesters to defy health warnings and attend Black Lives Matter rallies in major cities at the weekend.
As senior health officials warned they were “on alert’’ for a new spike in COVID-19 infections which could slow the reopening of the economy, former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett slammed the lack of leadership from state governments.
“It’s disappointing that those who lead us weren’t more forthright in trying to suggest to these people that they shouldn’t attend,” said Mr Kennett, who is president of AFL club Hawthorn.
“Don’t tell me after thousands of people attended the rally, we couldn’t have had thousands of people at the footy on the weekend social distancing.
“We need to open up the borders. We need to start moving.”
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Simon Benson 4.45am: Australians back PM’s tough stance on China
Australians have overwhelmingly slammed the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, and backed Scott Morrison’s spearheading of a global independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, as China ramped up its intimidation campaign against Canberra.
Amid escalating tensions with Beijing, after Chinese officials told citizens to stay away from Australia due to a “significant increase” in racism, a special Newspoll showed 79 per cent of voters supported the Morrison government’s pursuit of a coronavirus investigation.
The poll, conducted between last Wednesday and Saturday, revealed 87 per cent of Coalition voters endorsed the Prime Minister’s position on an independent inquiry against fears of antagonising China.
Read the full story here.
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Oasis announce Australian shows
The band will headline a stadium show in Melbourne on October 31, then Sydney on November 7.
Burke mulls cancelling visa of academic who called Oct 7 ‘a celebration’
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering the visa status of a US-based academic who attended Monday’s Hizb ut-Tahrir-associated rally in Sydney, praising the Houthi rebels and saying Hamas's attacks were a day of 'growth' for Palestinians.