Coronavirus Australia live news: Trade Minister wants answers over China ‘hit list’
Simon Birmingham says China should respond to claims they are drawing up a hit list of Australian exports, slamming the reports.
- No medical reason for state borders to stay closed: Kelly
- Australia to stand firm amid export warning
- SA fast-tracks restriction roll-back
- NSW green light for travel, galleries
- COVIDSafe app still untried
- ‘Severe recession’: UK prepares for worst
- WHO members commit to virus inquiry
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says China should respond to reports of a ‘hit list’ of Australian exports. Foreign Minister Marise Payne says she would be disappointed if China targeted wine, seafood and dairy exports as revenge for the pursuit of a COVID-19 inquiry. Health Minister Greg Hunt has lauded the nation’s low infection and ICU numbers as NSW and South Australia roll back restrictions.
AFP 8.40pm Singapore slammed for death sentence via Zoom
Singapore has been criticised as “cruel and inhumane” after a death sentence was handed down via video-conferencing platform Zoom.
Malaysian drug trafficker Punithan Genasan was sentenced to hang on Friday in a hearing conducted remotely due to restrictions in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus, court officials said.
The 37-year-old had been found guilty over the trafficking of at least 28.5 grams of heroin, a crime punishable by death under the city-state’s tough anti-drugs laws.
The Supreme Court said it was the first criminal case where a death sentence was handed down in a remote hearing.
Zoom has become popular during virus lockdowns worldwide for everything from virtual school classes to business meetings — but Human Rights Watch criticised its use to mete out capital punishment.
“The death penalty is inherently cruel and inhumane, and Singapore’s use of remote technology like Zoom to sentence a man to death makes it even more so,” said the group’s deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said on Wednesday.
“It’s pretty astounding the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to see his accusers.”
Singapore kept its outbreak in check in the early stages but was hit by a second wave of infections, mainly affecting low-paid migrant workers in crowded dormitories.
Singapore has reported over 29,000 infections including 22 deaths.
READ MORE: Emissions fall by fifth but not for long
Angelica Snowden 7.50pm Ardern launches tracking app
Jacinda Ardern has launched an app to help New Zealanders track their movements as the country eases COVID-19 restrictions.
The Prime Minister described the app as a “digital diary”, saying it allowed users to check in at venues such as cafes and restaurants.
“It helps users, when they’re out and about, keep a log of their own movements,” Ms Ardern said on Wednesday.
“This is a way that people can do it that keeps the data for themselves rather than adding it into any more broader repository that might be held by a business.”
Unlike Australia’s tracking app, no data is sent to New Zealand government authorities, though that functionality will be added in an update next month.
Before it was officially launched, 92,000 Kiwis — almost 2 per cent of the population — downloaded the app.
Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield announced on Wednesday that the country had no new cases of COVID-19 for the fourth day in a row,
Just two cases have emereged in the past week, and 12 in the past fortnight.
Bars and nightclubs will open on Thursday for the first time since March on Thursday. Customers must be seated for table service in groups of no more than 10.
Additional reporting: AAP
READ MORE: Why the banks are frightened
AFP 7.20pm Spain makes masks compulsory in public
Everyone in Spain aged six and above must wear a mask in public places where social distancing is not possible, officials said on Wednesday.
A government decree declared the new rule would be enforced from Thursday, without specifying penalties for failing to comply.
Commuters are already obliged to wear masks on public transport in Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries, with almost 28,000 deaths from the pandemic.
But the death rate has slowed and the strict lockdown measures are being gradually eased, although population centres including Madrid and Barcelona have not been allowed to relax their rules.
“Using masks will be compulsory on the street, in open spaces and any closed place of public use... when it is not possible to maintain a safe distance of at least two metres,” the decree said.
People with breathing difficulties or other issues of necessity are exempt.
Virus transmission in Spain has slowed considerably since mid-March, when officials imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world.
On Tuesday, the death toll remained below 100 for the third consecutive day, down from a high of more than 900 a day in early April.
READ MORE: How the virus will change the design of homes and offices
Victoria Laurie 5.50pm: WA details medical advice on why it’s staying shut
The West Australian government has released medical advice from its Chief Medical Officer, in response to mounting pressure to justify its continued border closures.
The advice indicates that the borders between Western Australia and the rest of the nation will not open until community spread of COVID-19 is “eliminated” in other states, a situation that it says could take at least a month to confirm.
Dr Andrew Robertson issued a statement on Wednesday saying WA’s decision to close the interstate border on 5 April, quarantine interstate travellers and halt intrastate travel “were highly effective in reducing interstate cases and eliminating community spread.”
But he said continued COVID-19 outbreaks in several jurisdictions, including 24 cases in the past three days across two jurisdictions, posed an ongoing risk of infection across interstate borders.
The opening of the interstate borders “is not recommended”, he said, until “community spread is eliminated in the affected jurisdictions, which will require at least a month to confirm.”
He said relaxing interstate borders would only be considered after the state has reached the final, or fourth, stage of its rollback of anti-virus measures.
The reinfection of the community by interstate travellers could halt current easing of restrictions, such as allowing 20 patrons from this week in pubs and cafes, or lead to mass gathering bans and strict social distancing being reimposed.
Dr Robertson said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) had provided no specific advice on interstate borders, “but closure has been an effective mechanism in reducing the introduction of disease in several jurisdictions, including South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory.”
READ MORE: Premier urges states to reopen borders
Sarah Elks 5.45pm: Canberra Airport pushes Palaszczuk for flights
The chief executive of Canberra’s airport has written to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk asking for the resumption of domestic flights between Canberra and Brisbane next month, despite the state’s border closure.
Canberra Airport chief executive Stephen Byron told Ms Palaszczuk the ACT had remained free of new COVID-19 cases for 15 days, and had just one case in the five days before that — none of which were caused by community transmission.
Mr Byron has suggested a “small first step,” despite Ms Palaszczuk’s insistence the state’s border will remain closed to interstate travel for months yet.
“I would propose that as a small first step, that Queensland allow the commencement of domestic flights between Canberra and Brisbane and that so long as people from the ACT apply through the official Queensland government channels to apply for an exception to the quarantine rules based on ACT residency, that they be permitted to visit without quarantine on arrival,” Mr Byron said.
“The ACT and Canberra are not a COVID-19 hotspot as identified by your government.”
He said there was a lot of demand for business between Brisbane and Canberra, as well as tourism from ACT residents keen to visit Queensland destinations such as the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and north Queensland.
Mr Byron said he hoped the new step would be “considered as permissible” once both jurisdictions reached ‘stage two’ in their separate strategies for easing restrictions.
In Queensland, that step will be reached on June 12. In the ACT, the gradual implementation of stage two will occur from May 29.
READ MORE: Crackdown on COVID hackers
Richard Ferguson 5.35pm: Untenable: Federal MPs up pressure to open WA border
Federal MPs in Western Australia are ramping up calls for state premier Mark McGowan to loosen WA’s borders and protect regional tourism jobs in the West.
After state opposition leader Liza Harvey called for the state to be reopened, Government MPs have told The Australian that travel restrictions both within the state and with other members of the federation were starting to become untenable.
Liberal MP for O’Connor Rick Wilson — whose electorate covers holiday hotspots like Albany, Esperance, and the Goldfield — said the restrictions were harming businesses in South WA.
“Intrastate tourism will not fill the gap interstate travel would .... it is time to look at lifting those interstate borders,” he told The Australian.
“South Australia directly to our east hasn’t had any community transmission. The Northern Territory has all done very well. We should, at the very least, consider a travel bubble with other states that have no community transmission.”
“We need to follow the health advice, I congratulate the Premier and the WA government on their success with the virus ... but the lack of travel opportunities is hurting businesses, there has to be a balance.”
Liberal senator Matt O’Sullivan called for Mr McGowan to review the border closure weekly, rather than monthly, to give businesses a better chance to plan ahead.
“The north of WA relies on the July school holidays. Without that tourism influx, they will have to wait a whole year for that level of business,” he said.
“Intrastate travel needs to return urgently. Interstate travel will depend on the medical advice, but we should review it weekly so if the advice is we should open, we open straight away.
“We can’t leave businesses waiting for four weeks.”
The Premier — who has a 89 per cent approval rating in Newspoll for his handling of coronavirus — has again refused today to loosen borders or provide an end-date to travel restrictions, and has repeatedly said they are key to WA’s success in suppressing COVID-19
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Amos Aikman 5.05pm: NT a case away from corona-free
The Northern Territory is now just one case away from being coronavirus free after its second-last patient was cleared on Wednesday. The recovered case and the remaining one both contracted COVID-19 while serving overseas with the Australian Defence Force. All 30 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the Top End have been deemed travel-related.
There have been no cases of community transmission. The Labor government has said it will be 28 days after the last patient recovers before the Territory can officially declare coronavirus eliminated. Chief Minister Michael Gunner is resisting a push from businesses to swiftly remove border controls, arguing that other states pose too much of a risk, and it is better for the economy and the vulnerable population to minimise the chances of community transmission. Businesses like nightclubs and tattoo parlours are due to reopen on 5 June. Pubs reopened last week.
READ MORE: Anyone for a Corona? Pubs quench 53-day thirst
Angelica Snowden 4.07pm: No medical reason for borders to stay closed: Kelly
There is no medical reason for Australian states and territories to keep their borders closed, Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly says.
“From a medical point of view I can’t see why the borders are still closed but, as I said, that’s for the states and territories themselves to decide when that time is right for them,” he said.
Dr Kelly said he understood the original decision to close borders was to “help protect” state and territory populations, but now there are few if zero cases being identified.
“If we look at the situation now, several of those states and territories have not had any cases for the last few days. Indeed, the Northern Territory has not had a case for many weeks,” he said.
Dr Kelly stood by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committmee’s decision not to have a position on national border closures as a way to manage COVID-19.
“The domestic borders were not part of our plan for control of this,” he said.
“We did a lot of work and continue to do a lot of work at the international border and I still believe that was the very best decision that was made on February 1, to start to decrease the number of people coming from high risk countries,
“The domestic borders we’ve left to the states and territories.”
Dr Kelly noted that it “may be some time” before Australia achieves four weeks without any new cases — Queensland’s criteria for reopening borders — “so I hope that Queensland will take that into account.”
He said as the economy opens it is likely further COVID-19 new cases will emerge and that is why the health approach is to “suppress” not “eliminate” the virus.
As Qantas looks to the return of domestic travel, Dr Kelly said it was safer to fly on a plane with potentially hundreds of people than to sit inside a cafe with fewer than ten.
“On aircraft there are very specific engineering things that happen in relation to the ventilation on aircraft and so forth which can make it safer than a closed room for example,” he said.
“We had a discussion last week with Qantas and worked through the sort of things they might want to look at but we made it very clear that like all other industries in Australia, they needed to do their own risk assessment and come up with their own way of mitigating that risk.”
Yesterday Qantas announced it a range of measures June 12 to manage the spread of COVID-19 including placing hand-sanitiser dispensers throughout airports and providing optional face masks and antibacterial wipes on board.
READ MORE: Explainer: What your next flight looks like
David Penberthy 4pm: SA’s early shout with pubs, restaurants, groups
South Australia has reaped the benefit of its success against the coronavirus, with Premier Steven Marshall fast-tracking the lifting of restrictions on social gatherings, pubs and restaurants ahead of the state’s June long weekend.
With SA having no active cases of COVID-19 and just one new case in the past three weeks, the Premier said he would bow to calls from hoteliers for an easing of restrictions that were originally scheduled for June 8.
Mr Marshall has brought forward a raft of changes to June 5, the start of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, so that pubs, clubs and restaurants can open for up to 20 patrons.
READ FULL STORY here.
Angelica Snowden 3.45pm: COVIDSafe working as it should: Kelly
Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly has confirmed that the COVIDSafe app is “working as designed”, despite assertions that NSW could not access data from it yesterday.
“I just want to really stress that the COVIDSafe app is working as designed,” Dr Kelly said.
“We’ve had discussions today in the last 24 hours with both Victoria and New South Wales and they confirm that they have used the app and they are using it as part of their contact tracing exercises,” he said.
The Guardian reported yesterday that NSW Health was unable to use the data collected by the app for contact tracing.
But Dr Kelly refuted that claim, saying both NSW and Victoria are using the app to assist with contact tracing.
“As I say, Victoria and New South Wales have used the app and are using the information from the app as part of the contact tracing exercises.”
Dr Kelly said there are 650 active COVID-19 cases in Australia, 45 of which are in hospital and seven on ventilators
Dr Kelly welcomed the motion for an independent inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic passing at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday night.
“We can really learn the lessons of the origins of the virus, the source of the virus and what has happened over the last few months in relation to the spread around the world and our global response,” he said.
“Australia really welcomes that unanimous support that came from all of those co-sponsors and we look forward to that, the findings of that as it happens in the coming months as
would be necessary so that we can really look at the entire response.”
READ MORE: COVID tracing app for business lunches
Victora Laurie 3.30pm: WA premier won’t be bullied on borders
WA Premier Mark McGowan has followed the lead of his Queensland counterpart by saying he will not apologise for holding on to interstate border restrictions for as long as they are needed.
His comments were made as WA recorded another day with zero new COVID-19 cases, only three active cases and no infected people in metropolitan hospitals.
The Premier said he will follow the advice of his WA Chief Health Officer and director general of the state’s health department that preventing visitors to WA was an appropriate measure.
He was echoing the stance of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who said she would be negligent if she did not hold firm on her state’s border closure, arguing she “cannot predict the future” so can’t say when the border will reopen.
Mr McGowan said he would not be bullied by state or Federal governments, especially by New South Wales which he said was responsible for the Ruby Princess disaster and shouldn’t be giving out advice.
“It’s odd, New South Wales is saying don’t catch public transport in Sydney, they’re restricting the number of people who can go to a restaurant or cafe far more than Western Australia is, yet they’re saying ‘why can’t New South Wales people fly to Western Australia’,” he said. “Their message is totally inconsistent.”
Premier McGowan has support from the WA AMA president Andrew Miller, who says WA should remain isolated “until the end of the year.”
“That’s a good time frame to consider, although essential and compassionate travel could continue. This is a brand new disease we know very little about, so the economy could be damaged even more if we open up borders prematurely,” he said.
“If Qantas thinks it’s fine for everyone to sit close to each other during a four or five hour flight to get here from Sydney, that’s further motivation to ensure they are not allowed to do that.”
Dr Miller, who clashed with the WA government early on and criticised its perceived slowness in closing down the state, says McGowan’s insistence on remaining isolated “is a fair and reasonable thing to do.
“The rest of the country is dependent on our oil and gas industries and we must protect those assets. Tourism in Western Australia is not as important to the rest of the country.”
READ MORE: Lawyers question legality of border closures
Adeshola Ore 2.45pm: Sydney private school closes as student tests positive
Sydney private school St Ignatius’ College Riverview has been shut for cleaning after a student tested positive to coronavirus.
On its Facebook page, the school said it had been informed by NSW Health that a student had tested positive to COVID-19.
“The virtual timetable will commence from tomorrow as the campus is cleaned, and closure is not anticipated to last more than 48 hours,” the post read.
“This will not affect Regis campus, and the Boarding Houses will remain open.”
READ MORE: Contamination closet. anyone?
Rachel Bacendale 2.10pm: Victoria reveals new cases, another Cedar Meats link
Victorian authorities have confirmed eight new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, with the number of cases linked to Melbourne abattoir Cedar Meats rising to 103.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the state has only risen by seven to 1580 since Tuesday, due to the reclassification of one previous case, for which reports had been duplicated.
One of Wednesday’s new cases was linked to Cedar Meats, with investigations into two cases reported on Monday also linking them to the outbreak, taking the total number of cases in the cluster to 103, up from 100 on Tuesday.
So far 64 Cedar Meats workers and 39 of their contacts have tested positive to the virus.
Wednesday’s new cases also included two healthcare workers from the Kyabram District Health Service in Victoria’s north, who were identified through regular testing at the facility.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said neither worker had worked while infectious.
Dr van Diemen said a small number of staff would now be required to self-isolate for 14 days, but at this stage there were no patients or residents at an adjacent aged care facility “who fit the close contact criteria”.
“The cases were detected as a result of screening all dedicated residential aged care staff – including those on annual leave and days off – on Monday 18 May,” Dr van Diemen said.
“A total of 75 swabs were undertaken, with 73 returning negative results.”
The positive results come after another worker at the Kyabram District Health Service tested positive this month.
Another of Wednesday’s new cases related to a worker on a construction site at a school in Melbourne’s south-east, who was asymptomatic when tested.
Dr van Diemen said the construction site had been closed for sanitation, and contacts are being followed up for testing and isolation.
The other four new cases reported on Wednesday remain under investigation.
READ MORE: What your next flight looks like
Richard Ferguson 1.45pm: Trade Minister demands answers on China ‘hit list’
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says China should respond to claims they are drawing up a hit list of Australian exports, slamming the reports as “unsourced.”
Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday night that wine, seafood, oats, fruit and dairy exports are reportedly on a list of commodities drawn up by Chinese officials that could face stricter quality checks, delayed Customs clearances, antidumping probes or state media encouraged consumer boycotts.
Senator Birmingham on Tuesday said China had emphasised the importance of Australian exports – despite attacks on beef and barley – and that the government would continue working with Beijing.
“This is an unsourced claim for Chinese authorities to respond to,” Senator Birmingham told the Australian.
“Australia notes recent statements from Chinese spokespeople emphasising the mutual benefits that flow from our trading relationship. We share those sentiments and will continue to work with China to uphold the commitments we both made under CHAFTA.”
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Adeshola Ore 1.35pm: ACT continues run of zero virus cases
The ACT remains coronavirus free, recording no coronavirus cases for a 17th consecutive day.
The number of cases in the territory remains at 107, including three deaths. The ACT and South Australia are the only coronavirus-free jurisdictions on mainland Australia.
Territory health officials received 264 negative test results in the past twenty-four hours.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman urged the public to get tested even if they had mild symptoms.
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Olivia Caisley 1.20pm: Crackdown targets spike in hacking cases
Australia has called on foreign governments to immediately cease support for malicious cyber activity, following an increase in COVID-related attacks. Read more here
Rachel Baxendale 1.05pm: New cases, but no more deaths, in Victoria
Victoria’s total number of coronavirus cases has risen by seven since Tuesday to 1580, according to a tweet from Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.
It is not yet clear whether that means there have been seven new cases confirmed in Victoria in the past 24 hours, given the possibility that duplicate reports could have been removed from the total on Wednesday, as they were on Monday and Tuesday.
There are 1580 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Victoria & sadly 18 deaths. 166 cases may be community transmission. 10 people are in hospital, inc 5 in ICU. 1465 people recovered, >367,000 tests processed. Our message: even if you have mild symptoms, get tested #springst
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) May 20, 2020
Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen is due to address the media on Victoria’s COVID-19 numbers at 1.30pm.
There has been no recent increase in Victoria’s COVID-19 death toll, which remains 18. There are 10 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus, including five in intensive care.
There have been 166 cases with no link to overseas travel or other known cases, indicating community transmission.
Of the total 1580 cases, 1465 people have recovered. More than 367,000 tests have been processed.
READ MORE: ‘Wolf warriors’ go to battle for Beijing
Eli Greenblat 12.50pm: Lockdown delivers blow to traditional business
With retail sales falling by record levels, up to 20 per cent of the country’s shops will shut as shoppers’ shift online becomes permanent, UBS predicts. Read more here
Adeshola Ore 12.40pm: Arrests made over separate spitting incidents
A woman has been arrested after allegedly spitting on a nurse in Adelaide. The nurse was dressed in blue hospital scrubs as she walked along Hindley Street in the city on Tuesday morning when she had a drink spat over her.
She was not hurt during the incident but a 42-year-old woman was later arrested and charged with assaulting a prescribed emergency worker.
In Sydney, NSW Police are appealing for information to identify a man after two separate spitting in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west.
In the first incident, a man boarded a bus on Marrickville Road about 11.45am on Monday and allegedly began spiting at the driver after being spoken to about not paying his fare. Police are appealing for help to find the man.
In the second incident, a man allegedly spat on a supermarket employee outside a shop in Marrickville. Police have arrested a 40-year-old man in relation to the offence.
In Sydney, a teenage boy has been charged with allegedly spitting at a train guard in the city’s west. On Tuesday evening, the 17-year-old allegedly spat on a guard while an east-bound train from Penrith to Hornsby was alighted at Werrington Station. He was arrested shortly after.
He was taken to Penrith Police Station and charged with common assault. He is due to appear in court on July 9.
— With AAP
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Adeshola Ore 12.14pm: Cambridge goes online for entire year
The UK’s University of Cambridge says it will teach students online for the next full academic year, scrapping face-to-face classes because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The university says it expects social distancing requirements will stay in place nationally for some time.
A spokesperson for the university said lectures would continue via video until summer 2021, when small teaching groups may take place in person. Exams will also be carried out online.
Despite the change to class formats, Cambridge University can still charge full tuition fees for online lessons.
The university has flagged it may update its plans based on social distancing guidelines throughout the pandemic.
Cambridge University has become the UK’s first higher education institution to announce its plans for the next full academic year. It follows Manchester University’s decision to scrap all face-to-face lessons for the next term.
University campuses in the UK have been closed to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 35,000 people in the country.
READ MORE: Why international university students are good for Australia
Richard Ferguson 11.58am: Australia to stand firm amid export warning
Foreign Minister Marise Payne says she would be disappointed if Chinese officials start targeting a greater number of Australian exports as revenge for the Morrison government’s pursuit of a global investigation into COVID-19.
Australian wine, seafood, oats, fruit and dairy exports are reportedly on a list of commodities drawn up by Chinese officials that could face stricter quality checks, delayed Customs clearances, antidumping probes or state media encouraged consumer boycotts.
“We will always comply with appropriate requirements for Australian exports, no matter where they are going. But we would be disappointed if there was any process of conflating these issues,” she told ABC radio.
“We deal with the trade issues on their merits, as they stand, and we should do that on their facts, on their own merits.
“And Australia will always stand firm in protecting our national interests. So, we will engage respectfully, our ministers, as I said, Minister (David) Littleproud, Minister (Simon) Birmingham, will engage in that process. Most importantly, though, we will always protect Australia’s national interests.”
READ MORE: China exports cheap shots as complaint over tariffs looms
Richard Ferguson 11.54am: China urges Australia to ‘give up political manoeuvre’
China’s Foreign Ministry has called on Australia to “give up its political manoeuvre” and stop claiming success on the establishment of a global investigation into COVID-19.
Echoing the Chinese Embassy in Canberra’s claims the Morrison government’s work to pass the review through the World Health Assembly was “nothing but a joke”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing late Tuesday night that he would welcome Australia “changing its course”.
Mr Zhao’s threats come as fears rise that Chinese officials have drawn up a list of Australian exports to target and state media backs consumer boycotts of the nation’s goods.
“The abovementioned draft resolution is entirely different from what Australia called ‘independent international review’,” he said.
“The draft resolution calls for an evaluation of experience gained and lessons learnt from the WHO-co-ordinated international health response, rather than an inquiry based on the presumption of guilt targeting a certain country.
“We hope Australia will read the text carefully instead of making conclusions based on assumptions.
“Lastly, I want to stress that we welcome it if Australia changes its course, completely gives up its political manoeuvre and returns to the broad consensus of the international community following the relevant WHA resolution.”
READ MORE: ‘Wolf warrior’ envoys go to battle for Beijing
Olivia Caisley 10.59am: National cabinet isn’t holding back travel: Hunt
Health Minister Greg Hunt has hosed down suggestions that the national cabinet should have a role in co-ordinating a return to domestic travel, declaring the reopening of borders is a matter for the states and territories.
Mr Hunt said the Morrison government respected the decisions of the states and territories, and it was ultimately their choice to act upon the medical advice and choose to either remain closed or start reopening.
“National cabinet has set out that there are no national cabinet barriers to states bringing down those internal order restrictions or cross state border restrictions,” Mr Hunt said. “They are not determined by the national cabinet.”
Mr Hunt warned that new measures such as cough etiquette and hand hygiene were “permanent changes” that would continue to be part of the Morrison government’s road map to “careful managed normality”.
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Adeshola Ore 10.53am: Brazil records record spike in deaths
Brazil’s daily COVID-19 death toll jumped to a record 1179 on Tuesday, with US President Donald Trump saying he is considering a travel ban from the country.
Before Tuesday, the highest daily death toll had been 881 fatalities on May 12. The country’s health ministry has confirmed 17,971 coronavirus deaths.
On Monday, Brazil overtook Britain to become the country with the third-highest number of confirmed infections, behind Russia and the United States.
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Mr Trump’s, has been criticised for his handling of the outbreak, such as opposition to restrictions of movement he views as damaging to the economy.
Mr Bolsonaro said the interim health minister would issue new guidelines on Wednesday, recommending the use of antimalarial drug chloroquine to treat the coronavirus. Two trained doctors have resigned as Health Minister in the past month as Bolsonaro defies public health expert advice.
On Monday, Mr Trump, who announced he was taking chloroquine preventively, told reporters he didn’t want people travelling to the US and “infecting our people”.
“I don’t want people over there sick either. We’re helping Brazil with ventilators … Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it.”
With Reuters
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Sarah Elks 10.49am: Premier ‘can’t predict future’ on borders
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended her decision to hold firm on the state’s border closure, arguing she “cannot predict the future” so can’t say when the border will reopen.
Under questioning from the Opposition in state parliament, Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland had just 12 active coronavirus cases, while NSW had 369 and Victoria had 100.
“But I make no excuses for shutting our border to protect the lives of Queenslanders,” she said.
“There are over 300 active cases in NSW at present, where we have 12. There are 100 active cases in Victoria at the moment, where we have 12.”
“I cannot predict the future, and we will review it at the end of each month. And it would be negligent of any government not to follow the advice of the health officer.”
The tourism sector was shocked by Ms Palaszczuk’s remark that the border might not reopen until September, after the government’s own written road map set a prospective date for the restarting of interstate travel of July 10, subject to review.
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Olivia Caisley 10.43am: ‘Transformative moment’ in disease detection
Health Minister Greg Hunt has described the passing of an independent probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic as a transformative moment in international disease detection.
Mr Hunt on Wednesday said the global response to the World Health Assembly motion was “deeply heartening” with 137 countries cosponsoring the advice.
“We set out our resolution, and we have followed that path and that is one of the things about the Prime Minister,” Mr Hunt said. “You know where he is coming from.”
“We have set out the principles, we have followed those principles, and we really welcome what the world has done. So I am both confident and hopeful that, going forward, this resolution will represent a transformative moment in international disease detection and discovery.”
READ MORE: China exports cheap shots in war of words
Olivia Caisley 10.40am: App use by state not available due to privacy laws
Health Minister Greg Hunt says he believes all the states and territories are using the government’s COVIDSafe app to assist their contact tracing efforts.
Mr Hunt said that specific details about the download breakdown per state were not available due to the privacy protections built in to the app.
More than 6 million Australians have downloaded the app.
“The Victorian government has informed us that they have used it,” Mr Hunt said. “We are told that all of the states and territories are using the COVIDSafe app, but in six of the states and territories, for example, there have been no cases and the fact there have been no cases is of course a source for celebration.”
Mr Hunt said NSW had sought data where it had cases and the app was “serving its role” to help with outbreaks.
“As part of the legislation, we were very clear, only state officials have those details, so only state officials have them.”
He said reports that NSW Health were having trouble accessing the data was incorrect.
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Adeshola Ore 10.36am: SA fast-tracks relaxed restrictions ahead of long weekend
South Australia will bring forward the onset of stage two restrictions from Friday June 5, ahead of the long weekend.
From this Friday (May 22), cafes and restaurants will be able to host 10 patrons outdoors and 10 indoors, including alcohol service with seated dining.
Premier Steven Marshall said the decision to bring forward the relaxing of measures from the Monday of the long weekend will support small businesses in the hospitality sector.
“We know it will be great for regional South Australia and businesses in metropolitan Adelaide if we can move to stage two as of Friday the 5th of June,” he said.
“People in South Australia don’t want to go backwards. We’ve worked too hard to get to where we are now. Businesses tell us that it would be an absolute disaster if we were to ease restrictions only to have them put back on.”
South Australia’s police commissioner Grant Stevens said the relaxation was made possible because of business following the current restrictions.
“We’ve seen significant compliance and significant effort on behalf of businesses to do the right thing,” he said.
Mr Stevens said more detail would be provided to businesses ahead of the reopening date of June 5.
“Instead of having a blanket rule for every business in Australia, we’ll be developing protocols that businesses will have to adopt and that will enable them to take full advantage of the economic benefit of reopening their businesses and starting to trade.”
South Australia’s previous restrictions allowing ten outdoor diners had been earmarked to be in place until June 8, the Monday of the long weekend.
Under the relaxed measures, pubs and clubs will be permitted to open on June 5, the Friday before the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
South Australia and the ACT are the only two coronavirus-free jurisdictions on mainland Australia.
READ MORE: Beautiful one day, broken the next
Olivia Caisley 10.30am: Australia provided ‘impetus’ for virus probe
Health Minister Greg Hunt has argued Australia helped provide the “impetus and resolve” to get an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus off the ground at the World Health Assembly.
Mr Hunt welcomed the passage of the motion overnight as he announced the government would invest almost $400 million in health and medical research projects, including $84.7 million for infectious disease research across 61 projects.
“Australia has helped provide the impetus and the resolve to ensure we have an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation of the origins, source, passage and response to COVID-19,” Mr Hunt said on Wednesday. “Those things together are about saving lives and protecting lives.”
Professor Allen Cheng from Monash University will receive $1.7 million to optimise vaccine and treatment strategies to prevent illness and death from severe influenza in Australia.
Mr Hunt said Australia was now at 7071 cases and 100 deaths.
Mr Hunt said six states had reported no cases with five of the 11 new cases reported nationally stemming from hotel quarantine.
“That emphasises the first of our containment measures, border control, as being absolutely essential,” he said.
Mr Hunt said the fact there were only seven people on ventilators was a “cause for celebration”.
READ MORE: Aussie volunteers step up for vaccine trial
Adeshola Ore 10.12am: Joyce defends Qantas decision to opt out of distancing
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has defended the airline’s decision to not enforce social distancing on its flights.
Mr Joyce said passengers who displayed COVID-19 symptoms would not be allowed to fly.
“If you are not feeling well when you wake up for your flight there will be no cost of changing your ticket and we will be asking people to do that,” he told the ABC on Wednesday.
“We know hundreds of thousands of people have travelled on aircraft throughout COVID-19 and there’s no person-to-person transmission on an aircraft.”
Qantas’s post-pandemic operation plan does not include blocking out the middle seat to practice social distancing. Mr Joyce said this practice would cause airfare prices to rise.
“The idea of the middle seat isn’t social distancing. It’s a 60cm difference between two people. To get the full metre squared, you would end up with 22 people on an aircraft of 180 seats and the airfares nine to ten times as much.”
READ MORE: Qantas to offer masks but no social distancing
Rachel Baxendale 10.00am: Victorian parliament to return to scheduled sittings
Victorian parliament is set to return to scheduled sittings from the start of June, after normal sittings were suspended indefinitely in March.
Parliamentarians last met for an emergency sitting on April 23 to pass legislation required to enact urgent COVID-19 measures and ensure supply.
Under a revamped calendar announced on Wednesday, state parliament will sit from June 2-4 and June 16-18, followed by a break for the previously scheduled winter recess before returning on August 4.
Additional cleaning and hygiene measures will continue to be in place during the sittings, with a reduced number of MPs will be present in each chamber, as well as a skeleton staff, to aid social distancing.
The Andrews government’s leaders in the lower and upper houses respectively, Jacinta Allan and Jaclyn Symes, said sitting dates would remain subject to change, dependent on the spread of COVID-19 and advice from Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.
“The government will also seek to recall parliament at any time, if further emergency legislation is required to protect Victorians from coronavirus or its severe economic impacts,” Ms Allan and Ms Symes said in a joint statement.
READ MORE: Red tape removal ‘key to growth’
Adeshola Ore 9.55am: Australia to negotiate before appealing tariff
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says Australia will wait the set 60-day period before appealing China’s barley decision at the World Trade Organisation.
China has imposed an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley imports, saying the product has been imported against trade rules.
Mr Littleproud said the government would continue to work with Beijing in the set 60-day period nations have to try and negotiate disputes on a local level.
“I have agricultural councillors and trade officials from Simon Birmingham’s office in Beijing working with officials now,” he told Sunrise on Wednesday.
“We’re fair traders, we’re a fair nation within the global community and it’s important we live up to the responsibilities, we’ll stick to the process. But that’s only 60 days and then once that’s completed, we’ll make a determination at the WTO.”
READ MORE: China exports cheap shots in war of words
Rachel Baxendale 9.48am: Andrews unveils Victorian construction blitz
The Andrews government will ramp up its level crossing removal program over winter, in a bid to stimulate the economy through infrastructure projects in response to the coronavirus crisis.
The construction blitz will see Melbourne’s Upfield rail line, which runs north from the CBD to Craigieburn, closed for three and a half months – the longest planned closure of a rail line in Victoria’s history.
The level crossings set to be removed between July 28 and November 15 include those at Munro, Reynard and Bell streets, and Moreland Road.
More than 1000 workers will be involved in the project, with buses to replace trains on the Upfield line between Anstey Station and Craigieburn.
The blitz is being announced amid multi billion dollar cost blowouts and uncertainty on the Andrews government’s signature infrastructure projects on the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel and West Gate Tunnel.
The government is currently negotiating with the consortium building the rail tunnel over a cost blowout which could cost taxpayers more than $3bn, while an impasse over toxic soil has seen more than 200 workers stood down from the West Gate Tunnel and that project’s completion date pushed out from 2022 to 2023.
Other construction set to take place as part of the government’s winter construction blitz includes two months of work on the Frankston rail line beginning later this week, further level crossing removal works in suburbs including Lyndhurst, Pakenham, Berwick, Edithvale,
Chelsea and Bonbeach, Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Mooroolbark and Lilydale, and early works on the North East Link road project.
As part of the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel project, vehicles travelling into the Melbourne CBD from St Kilda Road will no longer be able to turn left into Flinders Street for up to two years, to enable large trucks to carry soil away from excavation sites at the new Town Hall station.
Track renewal and maintenance works are also set to take place in the city loop and on the Bendigo Swan Hill and Echuca regional rail lines, as well as an upgrade to the suburban Sunbury line.
A range of other road upgrades will also see temporary closures on roads including the Frankston-Dandenong Road and Thompsons Raod, Monash Freeway, M80 Ring Road, West Gate Freeway and Princes Freeway.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the more than 15,000 workers on the government’s “big build” were subject to strict health and safety measures, including changing work practices to reduce staff contact and enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures.
READ MORE: Red tape removal ‘key to growth’
Sarah Elks 9.08am: Queensland must ‘hold firm’ on border closures
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer says the state needs to “hold firm” on its border closure with NSW and Victoria to keep residents safe.
Dr Jeannette Young said it was “incredibly important” to contain the spread of the virus to keep the border closed.
Dr Young said it was impossible to give the tourism sector absolute certainty, but said it was “more realistic” to plan for the border to reopen in September, rather than the written road map’s prediction – subject to review – of July 10.
“I completely agree with the Premier that September is a far more realistic one,” she said.
“If the tourism industry wants a realistic scenario, then they should be planning for September.
“But I say to them, that if everything went perfectly, and it was possible, that maybe it could happen earlier, they maybe also should be prepared for that.
“But if they wanted to have a more realistic scenario, September is far, far more realistic.
“Having said that, I can’t even commit that September would be possible, it depends what happens between now and then.”
Dr Young said the “best case scenario” for reopening the border with NSW and Victoria would be four weeks of zero cases of community transmission in those states.
Asked what she would say to tourism operators dependent on the border reopening for their businesses to survive, Ms Palaszczuk said she was protecting their health, along with all Queenslanders.
“We’ve got to protect Queenslanders, they’re all Queenslanders as well, and their health is my number one priority,” she said.
“We will review (this border closure) at the end of each month.”
Queensland recorded one new case overnight, a woman who returned from India two months ago.
READ MORE: ‘Hard line on borders risks travel devastation’
Adrian McMurray 8.50am: Vic traces COVID-19 patient from app
Health authorities in Victoria have accessed tracing data from the COVIDSafe app for the first time.
A confirmed COVID-19 patient was found on Monday night to have the contact tracing app on their phone.
As per the app’s protocols, the person then gave their consent to their data being sent to Victoria Public Health officials, who will begin looking for potential contacts.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said access to the data is limited to “trained public health officers carrying out contract tracing functions”.
“With only a small number of cases in Victoria, there have been few opportunities to use the app so far. We hope this continues.”
READ MORE: Frontline staff test Trump drug
Anne Barrowclough 8.15am: NSW opens up for travel, galleries
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that residents will be able to travel around the region from June 1, while museums, art galleries and libraries will also open. Pubs, clubs and cafes will be able to allow 20 people, double the number allowed at present.
However Ms Berejiklian warned people must “remain vigilant,” planning ahead for any travel.
“The holiday you will be taking will be different from any holiday you have taken before,” the premier said.
“It means you need to think ahead and plan ahead, and accept that nothing we did before the pandemic will be quite the same during the pandemic. So while it’s good news, please treat the good news with caution, be extra organised, plan ahead, book ahead, do things online, as far as possible, make sure that you are – you keep your family safe and those around you safe”.
Ms Berejiklian also said that art galleries, libraries and museums would open from June 1 but with certain qualifications. There will be set times for the state’s most vulnerable to visit, and people will be required to leave a record of their visit so authorities can follow up if there is an infection linked to the facility.
As the state recorded just four new cases – all from returned travellers, Ms Berjiklian said NSW would welcome people from other states.
“New South Wales is always open to welcome people from other states. We intend to keep our borders open. We think that’s best for New South Wales but also best for Australia. We’ll play our part as the largest state, traditionally the economic powerhouse of the nation, to make sure we engage as much economic activity as possible.
“We don’t want to see job numbers to crash as they did in April. We want people to be realistic, a COVID safe environment will look and feel very different”.
More than 7000 people were tested in the past 24 hour period.
Ms Berejiklian said it was “positive news” that no new cases were from community transmission.
READ MORE: ‘Hard line risks travel devastation’
Anne Barrowclough 7.50am: COVIDSafe app still untried
No state in Australia has yet used data collected from the COVIDSafe tracking app to trace anyone with the virus.
While nearly six million people across Australia have downloaded the app, health departments in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia said there had been no access to data from the app to date, 7News reports.
NSW Chief Health Office Kerry Chant told reporters on Monday the state’s medical officers haven’t yet been able to use the app to track anyone who might have come in contact with an infected person.
A spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services told 7News it was “too early” to discuss contract tracing.
Guardian Australia reported that NSW Health had found issues integrating the data into existing contact-tracing methods,
The number of 5.87 million Australians is still short of the 40 per cent target set by Scott Morrison.
READ MORE: Grim milestone as toll hits 100
Anne Barrowclough 7.20am: Berjiklian: Get on your bike
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has asked residents to think of alternative modes of transport as they start to return to work, suggesting they consider walking or biking to work.
“I say to everybody, just because we are easing restrictions, doesn’t make the virus less deadly or less contagious. We have to remember, every time we move out of the house, we have to think about our actions and interaction with other people,” Ms Berjiklian told Today on Wednesday.
“Of course, the public transport network and how people are getting to work or to school, that is of concern and that is why we have taken those drastic measures of massively reducing the number of people on buses and trains.
“We are saying to people that if you are already on the system, that is fine. We don’t want anyone else catching a bus or a train in peak. Light rail and ferries are available in the peak.
You have technology in the palm of the hand to tell you when services are available. We are asking people to just listen to restrictions. Also, can you get dropped off? We are providing extra parking. Can you walk or ride a bike?”
READ MORE: Red tape removal key to work
Anne Barrowclough 7.00am: ‘Palaszczuk has a record’ on closures
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has slammed Annastacia Palaszczuk’s continued border closures, and called for “proper health advice” on borders.
“I’m a big supporter of the border closures. I think it’s helped reduce the severity of this virus. It was worth doing them,” Senator Canavan told Today on Wednesday.
“But unfortunately the Queensland Premier has a record here. She said a few weeks ago she didn’t want to reopen the schools because she’s worried she’d get blamed. It wasn’t based on health advice.
The Gold Coast is expected to lose 10% of all jobs by the end of next month. Do you think border closures should be eased? #9Today pic.twitter.com/LzyvF6nej8
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) May 19, 2020
“What we need to see is the proper health advice here, because we have done a good job of suppressing this virus. Travel restrictions are being remodelled and we should seek to do that as soon as we can to help struggling tourism businesses, especially those in Queensland.
READ MORE: Beautiful one day, economically broken the next
Agencies 6.30am: Virus threatens to overwhelm Latin America
The coronavirus is threatening to overwhelm Latin American cities in an alarming sign that the pandemic may be only at the start of its destructive march through the region.
More than 90 per cent of intensive care beds were full last week in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where1,000 emergency graves were dug to prepare for a wave of deaths.
In Lima, Peru, patients took up 80 per cent of intensive care beds as of Friday. Peru has the world’s 12th-highest number of confirmed cases, with more than 90,000.
“We’re in bad shape,” said Pilar Mazzetti, head of the Peruvian government’s COVID-19 task force. “This is war.”
In some cities, doctors say patients are dying because of a lack of ventilators or because they couldn’t get to a hospital fast enough. With intensive care units swamped, officials plan to move patients from capitals like Lima and Santiago to hospitals in smaller cities that aren’t as busy – running the risk of spreading the disease further.
Latin American countries halted international flights and rolled out social distancing guidelines around the same time as the US and Europe, delaying the arrival of large-scale infection, said Dr. Marcos Espinal, director of communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization. “Latin America was the last wave,” said Dr Espinal, who previously worked at the World Health Organisation.
READ MORE: Beautiful one day, broken the next
Agencies 6.20am: US-Canada border closure extended
The Canada-US border will remain closed to all non-essential travel for another month, until June 21, to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the 30 day extension, saying the border remained vulnerable.
The border was originally closed in March.
Mr Trudeau said Canada’s provincial leaders clearly wanted to continue the measures.
“This will keep people in both of our countries safe.” Trudeau said.
Donald Trump also confirmed the extension, but looked forward to its eventual end, saying, “everything we want to get back to normal.”
READ MORE: Biden swerves to left on way to poll
Jacquelin Magnay 5.30am: ‘UK recession likes of which we haven’t seen’
Britain is facing “a severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen” says worried Chancellor Rishi Sunak as a grim lockdown continues to destroy the British economy.
Mr Sunak told the Lords economic affairs committee overnight (AEST) that he wouldn’t be able to protect every job and business, and stressed “we are already seeing that in the data, no doubt there is more hardship to come, this lockdown is having a very significant impact.”
“We are likely to face a severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen. It isn’t obvious that there will be an immediate bounce back,” he said.
Mr Sunak has been concerned that the extended lockdown is creating an economic hole that the country will struggle to emerge from. However prime minister Boris Johnson has continued to keep most of British industry locked down since March 24 and only last week were construction companies and manufacturers urged to restart. Retailers and shops won’t open before June 1 at the earliest and other hospitality venues are shut until at least July 1.
While the total death toll from coronavirus is more than 34,000, the “excess deaths” from people not attending hospital, suicides and other unexplained causes is more than 14,000, new data released on Tuesday shows.
The peak of the virus was in March and for many weeks hospital admissions have declined and the weekly death toll continues to fall, yet a large proportion of the public remains terrified. Many families are planning to resist sending their children back to school when a staged education reopening is due on June 1.
Mr Sunak told peers the “jury is out” on the depth of economic “scarring”.
“There is the immediacy of impact, the depth of recession we are passing through ranges from 25 to 35 per cent (drop in GDP) … we (face) a severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen. What occupies my mind is what degree of long term scarring on the economy as result of this recession, what is lost in productive capacity?”
He said forecasts were not precise because of the unprecedented situation, but stressed the longer the depth of recession the greater the degree of scarring.
Mr Sunak agreed the impact of coronavirus could exceed £330bn and would be “significant and significant by historic standards”.
He said the big unknown was the hit on tax receipts and how much of the economy had disappeared.
Mr Sunak has extended his initial furlough scheme until October, which has already cost the country £11.1bn to help eight million jobs. Despite his measures, the jobless rate increased in April by an extra 2.1m.
THREAD 1/3: #Coronavirus press conference slides (19 May 2020)
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) May 19, 2020
🔵 COVID alert levels
🔵 Steps of adjustment to social distancing measures
🔵 We can help control the virus if we all stay alert
🔵 Changes in transport use (Great Britain)https://t.co/vHXWBqQqud pic.twitter.com/bL9yped9dT
READ MORE: Share price rockets as vaccine hopes rise
Agencies 5.15am: WHO member states sign virus inquiry resolution
Member states of the World Health Organisation officially resolved to launch an independent investigation into the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
The resolution, tabled by the European Union and accepted by consensus, calls for, “at the earliest appropriate moment”, an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the WHO-co-ordinated international health response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I thank Member States for adopting the #COVID19 resolution, which calls for an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the international response – including, but not limited to, WHO’s performance"-@DrTedros #WHA73
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 19, 2020
It will also examine “the actions of WHO and their timelines”.
While the resolution gives WHO the freedom to decide how to proceed and does not single out China, Australia and the US have for weeks been demanding an investigation into how the pandemic was handled.
Beijing rejected the idea of a China-centred investigation, calling instead for an assessment of the global health response.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, branded by Washington as being too close to China, also stressed the need to deal with the pandemic first.
He said the investigation would be launched at the right moment — without being more specific.
"Dark & difficult days may lie ahead.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 19, 2020
But guided by science, together we will overcome.
Let hope be the antidote to fear.
Let solidarity be the antidote to division.
Let our shared humanity be the antidote to our shared threat.
Now, more than ever"-@DrTedros#COVID19 #WHA73
READ MORE: Trade Minister attacks China’s ‘joke’ taunt
Ben Packham 5am: Crisis point looms for China-Australia relations
Australia’s relationship with China is headed towards crisis point amid a fresh war of words with Beijing’s top diplomat in Canberra, and fears of further reprisals from the nation’s biggest trading partner.
As the government prepares to fight new Chinese barley tariffs, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham was forced to respond to a Chinese embassy statement branding Australia’s success in securing a global investigation into the coronavirus as “nothing but a joke”.
Senator Birmingham, whose calls to Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan have been ignored, accused the Chinese of “cheap politicking” over the serious issue of COVID-19.
A day after Australia secured the backing of more than 130 countries for an independent inquiry into the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus, which China belatedly backed, fresh threats of trade sanctions against Australian produce emerged.
Australian wine, seafood, oats, fruit and dairy exports are reportedly on a list of commodities drawn up by Chinese officials that could face stricter quality checks, delayed Customs clearances, anti-dumping probes or state media-encouraged consumer boycotts.
Read the full story, by Ben Packham and Richard Ferguson, here.
Craig Johnstone 4.45am: Gold Coast sheds 10pc of jobs as virus bites
The Gold Coast will have shed about 10 per cent of its jobs by the end of next month, as a border shutdown blocks interstate visitors and threatens to cripple Queensland’s tourism industry ahead of the crucial winter holiday season.
The research emerged as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk defended the decision as essential to protecting Queenslanders’ health, despite criticism from federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham saying there was “no reason” to wait until September to reopen the border if Australia continued to contain the coronavirus.
Queensland continued to lock down its borders as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced regional travel in her state would again be allowed from June 1 to boost NSW tourism.
Read the full story, by Craig Johnstone, Sarah Elks and Charlie Peel, here.
Additional reporting: Anne Barrowclough
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