Coronavirus Australia live news: Chinese warned not to study in Australia
In a major blow to our schools and universities, Chinese students told to be ‘cautious’ in going to Australia because of ‘racism’.
- How to manage cruise arrivals
- Andrews ‘double standard’ under fire
- Unis lobby Beijing over travel ban
- Global cases top 7 million
- China’s Australian investment falls
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing coronavirus crisis. Senior health officials are divided on how to manage cruise ship arrivals, with some pushing for doctors to meet every vessel on arrival for tests of every passenger, and others suggesting such measures would be “overkill”. Daniel Andrews is under fire over a ‘double standard’ on crowds. Australia’s international education sector is lobbying Beijing to lift its travel boycott on Chinese visitors coming to Australia as mouthpiece publication warns the step is merely “the tip of the iceberg”.
Associated Press 8.45pm: France announces $27bn in aid to aviation industry
France’s government is pumping €15bn ($27bn) in rescue money into the pandemic-battered aerospace industry, in hopes of saving its hundreds of thousands of jobs and keeping plane maker Airbus and national airline Air France globally competitive.
In exchange for aid, companies will be required to invest more and faster in electric, hydrogen or other lower-emission aircraft, as France aims to make its aviation industry the “cleanest in the world.” The deal was negotiated with unions, which said they would stay vigilant about job guarantees.
“We will do everything to support this French industry that is so critical for our sovereignty, our jobs and our economy,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday, unveiling the plan alongside the ministers of transport, defence and environment.
The French aid includes direct government investment, subsidies, loans and loan guarantees. It also includes a special fund jointly financed by the government, Airbus and other big manufacturers to support small suppliers. It includes €7bn in loans and loan guarantees that the government had already promised to Air France, whose planes were almost entirely grounded by the virus.
And like a similar multibillion-euro plan to save the French car industry announced last month, the aviation bailout requires more investment in clean energy — and puts pressure on manufacturers to avoid layoffs.
The rescue plan includes investment in developing the successor to Airbus’s widely used mid-range A320, a new hybrid or hydrogen regional plane, and a new light helicopter.
READ MORE: The world will never be the same
AAP 8.15pm New Zealand cuts Antarctica research
New Zealand will reduce its scientific projects in Antarctica to keep the virtually uninhabited continent free from COVID-19.
Antarctica New Zealand, the government agency that does environmental research on the desolate landmass and the Southern Ocean, said limiting the number of people visiting was key to stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
The agency said it had decided to support “only long-term science monitoring, essential operational activity and planned maintenance this season” at its Scott Base after consulting other research programmes in the region.
According to reports, the number of projects was being cut from 36 to 13 across the upcoming research season from October to March.
“Antarctica New Zealand is committed to maintaining and enhancing the quality of New Zealand’s Antarctic scientific research,” Chief Executive Sarah Williamson said.
“However, current circumstances dictate that our ability to support science is extremely limited this season.” Antarctica New Zealand said it was developing a managed isolation plan with multiple government agencies to ensure COVID-19 does not reach the continent.
Scott Base is New Zealand’s only Antarctic research station and is 3,800 kilometres (2,360 miles) south of Christchurch and 1350 km (840 miles) from the South Pole, according to Antarctica New Zealand.
Up to 86 scientists, staff and visitors can usually stay there at any one time.
Richard Ferguson 7.45pm App traced just 27 out of 600 cases
State health detectives have used the COVIDSafe app to find the contacts of fewer than 27 coronavirus patients despite 600 new cases since the mobile software was launched in April.
Authorities in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT have not used the app at all
Victoria has contact traced through the app in 18 cases, and NSW in less than 10 virus investigations.
Queensland and South Australia have also revealed that none of their recent COVID-19 patients had downloaded the app.
About 6.5 million Australians have downloaded the app, which is a key tool in the Morrison government’s armour to justify easing social distancing restrictions.
‘To date, there have been no COVID-19 positive individuals identified as COVIDSafe users in Queensland. Queensland has only experienced 17 new cases of COVID-19 since the state signed the bilateral agreement with the commonwealth on the 8th of May, allowing access to the COVIDSafe data,” a Queensland Health spokesman said.
“We know most cases have been due to overseas or interstate travel or acquired from a known source such as family or flatmate.”
A South Australia health department spokeswoman also said local authorities had been unable to use the app.
“South Australia has had two positive cases since the COVIDSafe app was launched and both people did not have the app,” she said.
At the time of the launch, Scott Morrison implored Australians to download the app and said a big up-take was necessary if states were to ease restrictions and be confident they could trace and quickly isolate any COVID-19 outbreaks.
The latest COVIDSafe usage figures come days after Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the current take-up of the app may not be enough to find the contacts of any potential COVID-19 carrier at this weekend’s Black Lives Matter rallies.
“I would be very much relieved if we had a larger increase in downloads of the app over the next week or two,” Dr Kelly said on Sunday.
A Federal Health department spokesman said on Monday that the app was still needed if a second wave of infection occurs.
“There are only a handful of cases in which health officials need to undertake domestic tracing. That is one of the benefits of the successful health management of COVID-19 in Australia,” he told The Australian.
“However the app remains an important tool for those local cases and is being utilised as intended by state health authorities to supplement their contact tracing processes.
“While we continue to have very few cases, we need every tool we can, to continue to protect Australians from any potential outbreak.”
A NSW Health spokeswoman said the app had not been used to contract trace in the past two weeks.
“As new cases in NSW have predominantly been in people in hotel quarantine in the
past 13 days, we have had limited opportunity to use the app during this time,” the spokeswoman said.
“The app complements the rigorous system of contact tracing undertaken by expert
teams of 150 people across NSW Health.”
A Victoria Health spokeswoman said her state had only found any other COVID-19 cases through the 18 coronavirus investigations which used the app.
“With only a small number of cases being reported each day in Victoria, there have been few opportunities to use the app so far — and we hope this continues,” she said.
“We urge Victorians to download the app to augment our contact tracing tools to stop the spread of the virus. This will be increasingly important as restrictions are eased.”
Reuters 7.15pm Record spike in Indonesian cases
Indonesia’s Health Ministry reported 1043 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, its biggest daily rise in cases, taking the total number of infections to 33,076.
There were also 40 new deaths, bringing fatalities to 1923, said ministry official Achmad Yurianto.
The Southeast Asian country tested more than 281,650 for the virus as of Tuesday, data by its COVID-19 task force shows.
READ MORE: We can’t rely on migrants to boost economy
Richard Ferguson 5.35pm Tehan defends education sector after racism claim
The government will continue to “express the facts” in the face of China’s fresh attempts to stop its students from studying in Australia, Education Minister Dan Tehan says.
Mr Tehan said Australia was one of the best placed countries for international students to return to, given the nation’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its racial tolerance.
He refused to directly criticise the Chinese Ministry of Education, which moments before said students should be “cautious” about studying in Australia due to the pandemic and racist attacks.
“We will continue to deal with all countries in regards to the education sector with the same footing, with the same approach,” he told Sky News.
“I’m not sure there are many (other) countries international students would want to return to ... we are an incredibly tolerant society, we’re a multicultural society.
“We just continue to express the facts, to demonstrate through lived reality about what a tolerant society we are.”
Read more: AFL crowd allowed in Adelaide as Black Lives Matter protest blocked
Richard Ferguson 5:20pm: China warns students on Australian ‘racism’
China’s Ministry of Education has warned its students against studying in Australia, in a major blow to the nation’s schools and universities.
Days after Beijing’s Ministry of Tourism told tourists to avoid Australia, Chinese education departments said students should be “cautious” in going to Australia because of racism.
“Recently, major Australian universities plan to start school around July. The spread of the new global pneumonia outbreak has not been effectively controlled, and there are risks in international travel and open campuses,” he said.
“During the epidemic, there were multiple discriminatory incidents against Asians in Australia. The Ministry of Education reminds all overseas students to do a risk assessment and is currently cautious in choosing to study in Australia or return to Australia.”
The Group of Eight universities and a range of international education groups already planned to raise their concerns about the tourism advice with the Chinese Embassy in Canberra.
Chinese students are the number one source of foreign students in Australia and are projected to be worth $12bn to the nation’s education sector per year.
Read more: Crunch time for our universities
Before today’s warning, numerous reports and articles on the trend of study abroad emerged on Chinese media, setting a pessimistic tone for study in Australia.
An article published last week by state media People’s Daily listed “multiple difficulties for PRC students to study in Australia in the post-COVID era”, blaming Australia’s alliance with the US and “hostility against China”.
“In recent years, the Australian government has actively cooperated with the US-Indo-Pacific strategy and willingly acted as the US’s anti-China ‘pawn’.”
“Especially during the pandemic, it goes further on the anti-China road, resulting in frequent violence against Chinese in Australia, which poses a huge threat to the lives and personal property of Chinese students.
The official warning came in the backdrop of other discouraging factors due to the pandemic, which could lead Chinese students to change their minds to study overseas, including: general health concerns, uncertainty of border and international flights arrangements, ongoing cancellation of English language tests in China that impact university application, reluctant for online module studies, and potential changes of students’ household financial situation.
Additional reporting: Heidi Han
Rachel Baxendale 4pm: No ‘mixed messages on protests: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has dismissed accusations from the state opposition that he sent “mixed messages” ahead of Saturday’s Black Lives Matter protest, arguing police could not have arrested or fined the thousands of people who congregated in Melbourne’s CBD in contravention of social distancing laws.
Ahead of the protest Mr Andrews urged Victorians to support the cause in ways that did not involve attending, but backed Victoria Police’s decision to issue fines to organisers but not to attendees.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Saturday’s rally, Mr Andrews said his message that people should not go to the protest “couldn’t have been clearer”.
“Victoria Police’s response couldn’t have been clearer: don’t go to the protest,” Mr Andrews said. “But it’s simply not practical to be issuing thousands of fines or potentially locking up thousands and thousands of people.
“I’m pleased that it was peaceful. I’m not pleased that it happened, and I wouldn’t read any more into it than that.
“We don’t want a second wave (of coronavirus) here, and that’s why I don’t think people should have been there on Saturday. It was not the right thing to do.
“But as Victoria Police made very clear, we weren’t able to stop people.
“If you’d, for instance said, ‘we’re going to close off the CBD,’ well the protest would have happened somewhere else.
“What we saw in New South Wales was there was an attempt to go off to the courts, then the Court of Appeal knocked that over.
“Even if it had been successful, well then somebody else would have put their hand up and said, ‘Well, I’m now the organiser’.
“These things don’t take a lot of organising. Once you’ve sent the message out, once you’ve sent the word out, it gets very difficult to stop.
“Victoria Police made the right judgment. The alternative would have been, I think, very ugly scenes, very ugly scenes.
Asked if the protest presented a test his government could use to justify an acceleration of the lifting of restrictions if case numbers have not increased significantly in a fortnight, Mr Andrews said: “I’m not sure whether the Chief Health Officer would view it that way.”
“However, we wouldn’t we won’t know the results of — a worthy cause, but a fundamentally irresponsible thing to do — we won’t know the results of that for another two weeks,” he said.
Asked whether protesters should get themselves tested, Mr Andrews aid anybody with symptoms should isolate and get tested.
Asked whether Liberal Democrat David Limbrick, who attended the protest as an observer on Saturday should refrain from attending parliament next week, Mr Andrews said he wasn’t here to comment on “that individual” or Greens Senator Janet Rice, who also attended Saturday’s protest.
“They made a choice. I’m not aware that any of our team were there,” Mr Andrews said.
“Anyone who has symptoms should go and get tested, anyone who has symptoms should not be at work, and that’s really, that’s a judgment based on whether they have symptoms or not.”
Earlier, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien accused Mr Andrews of having a “double standard”.
“Daniel Andrews actively encouraged this to occur. He got exactly what he wanted, which was 10,000 people on the streets, and he can’t walk away from his responsibility for that,” Mr O’Brien said.
READ MORE: More Twitter trouble for Andrews boffins
Richard Ferguson 3.05pm: Frydenberg slams Churchill statue vandalism
Josh Frydenberg has blasted the defacing of British wartime icon Winston Churchill’s statue by Black Lives Matter rioters in London over the weekend.
Coalition sources said the Treasurer labelled images of looting in New York “shocking” and focused on the vandalism in London.
It is understood Mr Frydenberg said he agreed with one commentator’s assessment that: “If you call Churchill a racist, what do you call the guy he stopped?”
Churchill successfully led Britain to victory over Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in World War II.
But the late UK prime minister’s legacy on race has come under more scrutiny in recent years from some historians — particularly his role in the Bengal famine of 1943 — and that led partly to the targeting of his statue at Parliament Square, Westminster.
READ MORE: Retail’s real test to come
Richard Ferguson 2.25pm: Hope, but ‘difficult decisions’ ahead: Morrison
Scott Morrison has offered a message of hope to the Coalition party room on the path out of the recession, but warned “difficult decisions” outside of the government’s comfort zone still need to be made.
Coalition sources told The Australian that the Prime Minister said they needed to stay united and strive to apply their “philosophical principles”, even when policy responses to the pandemic are outside the Liberal Party orthodoxy.
“Australians are looking at us and what they see is a plan, and they see the plan being implemented. And that translates into hope,” he is understood to have said.
“We need to apply our time-tested philosophical principles to the situation we face, even though some of the things can take us outside our comfort zone.
“We need to show unity of focus. There will be difficult decisions ahead as we restore the economy ... that’s a five year task. We need to get Australians back into jobs.”
Mr Morrison’s message on philosophy comes as the government prepares to roll back some bigger spending policies like free childcare.
READ MORE: Aid offered as free childcare ends
Max Maddison 2.05pm: AFL crowds are go in South Australia: Premier
Crowds will be back at the football from this weekend, as South Australian Premier Steven Marshall announces that over 2000 people will be allowed to attend the Crows and Port grudge match.
At a press conference, Mr Marshall said “significant” crowds would return to this Saturday’s showdown between the two South Australian AFL sides, with 2,000 allowed in the stands and an additional 240 in private rooms.
“Football and crowds are back in South Australia ... I think, will be the first with a significant number of people at an AFL match and the first time we have had a significant crowd at any sport in Australia for months and months and months,” Mr Marshall said
“I know sporting fans will be very grateful for that.”
Speaking with police commissioner Grant Stevens, Mr Marshall said the decision had been made on the basis that Adelaide Oval has a “comprehensive plan to effectively and safely” manage the movement of people throughout the stadium.
READ MORE: Better late than never for footy fans
Max Maddison 1.55pm: SA police rule out another Black Lives Matter rally
A second Black Lives Matter won’t be allowed to go ahead on Saturday, says South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, as he asks protesters to abide by the same restrictions as everyone else in the community.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Stevens said while health authorities were “reasonably confident” that the disease was under control, he couldn’t be certain it didn’t exist in the community.
“To allow people to continue that sort of activity in an uncontrolled way creates risk that we are not really prepared to manage,” Mr Stevens said.
“I am confident it was the right decision for Saturday but I’m also confident that having provided that opportunity it is now appropriate that people abide by the restrictions that everybody else within the community is applying.”
READ MORE: Protests make mockery of rules
Patrick Commins 1.40pm: No guarantees on early JobKeeper cut-offs: Cormann
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann won’t offer any guarantees that more sectors won’t be transitioned off JobKeeper before the September 30 official expiry date.
This comes as Treasury said there are around 120,000 childcare workers who are on the wage subsidy program. As announced yesterday, these workers will be moved off JobKeeper from July 20.
In return, service providers will provide a transitional payment of 25 per cent of pre-COVID levels of revenue out to September 27, as long as they guarantee to maintain staffing levels.
So would other sectors be kicked off JobKeeper early?
Senator Cormann said “we have not made any decisions in relation to any other sectors”.
“I’m not aware of other sectors being in scope in any way.”
That said, he is “not aware of the findings and recommendation of the Treasury review into JK is going to be”.
“The question how we can best and equitably and fairly transition relevant sectors out of temporary support to business as usual on the other side.”
For those keeping count, in today’s COVID committee hearing we also had some updates from the ATO on the latest numbers around fiscal stimulus measures:
— As of midnight Thursday 4 June, the ATO has delivered $12.96 billion in JobKeeper payments to 872,482 businesses. These now cover about 3.3 million employees, “and we expect all these numbers to continue to grow over coming weeks and months”, ATP boss Chris Jordan said.
— ATO has applied $13.38 billion in cash flow boost payments to 708,000 businesses
— There have been two million applications for early release of super totalling $1.9 billion from superannuation funds.
READ MORE: Treasury’s dodgy maths costing a motza
Yoni Bashan 1.20pm: Officials are divided on cruise ship arrivals
Senior NSW health officials are divided on how to manage cruise ship arrivals as the COVID-19 pandemic continued its spread, with some officials pushing for doctors to meet every vessel on arrival for tests of every passenger, and others suggesting such measures would be “overkill” and a strain on resources.
At least one senior public health official wanted all passengers to be kept on board ships until COVID-19 tests had been finalised in a laboratory. But this suggestion, and others designed to hold vessels to higher standards, were not adopted in finalised guidelines circulated by NSW Health, a NSW Special Commission of Inquiry has heard.
One reason cited was the strain it would place on health resources. Another was the efficiency: some arriving cruise ships were considered so low risk that it would have been wasteful to send a health team to meet them at port.
The Commission of Inquiry is examining the circumstances behind the arrival of the Ruby Princess cruise ship on the morning of March 19; the ship was graded ‘low risk’ ahead of its arrival by senior health officials and later come to account for the country’s largest cluster of COVID-19 cases, resulting in at least 20 deaths and more than 700 infections nationwide.
Resuming its hearings after a month-long adjournment, the Commission heard evidence on Tuesday of an email exchange between senior health physicians charged with formulating the state’s response to cruise ship arrivals in February, as the coronavirus shut down the airline industry and threatened multiple continents.
Dr Jeremy McAnulty, Director of Health Protection at NSW Health, emailed colleagues on February 12 stating that health teams should meet with every ship on arrival in NSW as a precautionary measure. His colleague, Dr Leena Gupta, Director of the NSW Public Health Unit, and a member of the expert panel, later suggested a separate measure that passengers should be kept on board ships until COVID-19 test results had been returned.
This was to avoid asymptomatic passengers spreading through the community, and because they often did not carry Australian SIM cards in their mobile phones, making them more difficult to trace. Dr Gupta also had concerns that some passengers occasionally gave incorrect phone numbers.
The inquiry heard that some of the measures proposed by Dr McAnulty were later described as “overkill” by another senior panel member, who has yet to give evidence to the inquiry but is expected to be called.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Dr Sean Tobin, said he was included in these discussions but did not reply to all of these emails or respond to the suggestions. Dr Tobin is the Senior Medical Officer in the Communicable Disease Branch of Health Protection; he is also the NSW Chief Human Biosecurity Officer.
Asked whether it was clear by mid-February whether cruise ships needed to be managed with utmost scrutiny, given the outbreak of COVID-19 witnessed onboard another cruise ship off the coast of Japan — the Diamond Princess — Dr Tobin said this was indeed what had transpired.
“I think these emails and communications reflect that we were taking it very seriously as a major cause of concern for NSW and we were investing a lot of effort into working out the best way of managing the risk from cruise ships,” he said. “The Diamond Princess made us all very aware of that risk.”
The inquiry heard that other solutions to managing passengers were also examined; one proposal would have seen Port Authority of NSW pilots sent out to incoming vessels to collect COVID-19 swabs for urgent testing, prior to the ship docking alongside. Ultimately this did not go ahead either due to safety concerns.
“As I recall the Port Authority were uncomfortable with that as (it) increased the risk to their pilots, and I think they have suggested that they could take a Public Health person out on the sea and do it. We were very uncomfortable that an untrained Public Health person would do it,” Dr Tobin said.
Earlier in the hearing, Dr Tobin stated that he had sought modifications to the Department of Agriculture’s Human Health reporting system, which is used by ships to declare the number of ill passengers on board. The report, which contains all known symptoms of passengers, is uploaded to an online portal called MARS - the Maritime Arrivals Reporting System.
Dr Tobin said the MARS was not set up to provide finely-detailed information to the NSW expert health panel, and his request for upgrades were not able to be fulfilled.
“We had made suggestions that MARS should be modified… subsequently we went to the cruise ships themselves and sought that extra information, but I think that would have been simpler if that was all done through MARS,” he said. “The response we had back (from the Department of Agriculture) was that it was difficult to implement.”
READ MORE: Uncertainty cooling business confidence: NAB survey
PATRICK COMMINS 1.15pm: ATO boss explains JobKeeper error
ATO boss Chris Jordan has told the Senate committee the Tax Office began to see a difference between the number of employees businesses had flagged would be covered by JobKeeper and the number who were actual employees to be covered some weeks ago. This was well before the ATO informed the Treasurer on the evening of Thursday, May 21, and the public on Friday late afternoon.
Just a reminder that the wage subsidy program was initially estimated to cost $130bn and cover 6.5 million workers. Instead, it looks more like 3 million workers and $70bn.
Mr Jordan said that “in the first few weeks the number of employees reported seemed to be on a trajectory consistent with the Treasury estimates. But once employers began to confirm the actual employees covered as part of stage 2, we identified within a fortnight that the numbers were less than expected”.
At first, the ATO thought the discrepancy might be because some large employers had flagged they would use the JobKeeper program, but had yet to formally apply.
“However, by May 20 when numbers continued to stay below estimates, we did a deep dive into the 900,000 applicants on a line by line basis. It became evident that a number of mistakes were made in the stage one box that asked for the number of employees.”
This is where hundreds of small firms put the amount of employees to be covered in the first instance as 1500 — the fortnightly wage subsidy.
“This analysis was within three weeks of employers confirming actual employee applications and payments commencing.”
READ MORE: Treasury’s dodgy maths are going to cost taxpayers a motza
MAX MADDISON 1.10pm: Hunt: ‘there shouldn’t be double standards’
We need “one rule for all” and there “shouldn’t be double standards”, says Health Minister Greg Hunt, as he thanks Australians for a “magnificent job” in managing the threat of coronavirus.
Of the 59 cases reported in the previous seven days, 69 per cent had been detected through hotel quarantine or border protection processes, which Mr Hunt said reinforced the necessity of strong border control. There were currently no reported cases of community transmission in the past 24-hours, the Health Minister said.
“I know many Australians also look at some of the protesters on the weekend and say, we need one rule for all and there shouldn’t be double standards. I agree,” Mr Hunt said.
“So I want to thank all of those Australians who have done the right thing, who have continued to do the right thing and our focus is on making sure that people continue to maintain their distance and I want to thank everybody for their work.”
Over 1.63 million tests have been conducted since the outbreak began, while 6.62 million people have downloaded the COVIDsafe app.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Hunt also announced $24m in funding for the expansion of Head Space services, to increase the capacity of 44 facilities around the country.
READ MORE: Labor MP who marched cleared for Parliament
Greg Brown 1pm: Nats push PM against live cattle court appeal
Nationals MPs used the Coalition partyroom to warn Scott Morrison against appealing a Federal Court decision that found the 2011 live cattle export ban as being illegal.
Matt Canavan, George Christensen and Sam McMahon said it would send a bad message to farmers if the government appealed the Federal Court’s finding that agriculture minister Joe Ludwig’s 2011 live cattle export ban was “misfeasance”, a technical term of the wrongful exercise of the law.
The Prime Minister assured the Queensland and Northern Territory MPs that farmers left out of pocked by the ban would be compensated but did not rule out appealing the court’s ruling.
Attorney-General Christian Porter said the finding raised legal complications for the authority of ministers and may set a concerning precedent, according to sources in the meeting.
Liberal National MP Warren Entsch also called for restrictions to be eased, declaring the tourism sector was suffering in his north Queensland electorate.
READ MORE: Labor’s Indonesian live export ban to cost millions
PATRICK COMMINS 12.50pm: Treasury boss: I take full responsibility for error
Treasury boss Steven Kennedy has issued a full mea culpa for the massive overestimation of the JobKeeper program, which last month was downgraded to a forecast cost of $70bn, rather than $130bn.
“I take full responsibility for the revised estimates and all matters associated with the advice Treasury has provided,” Dr Kennedy said in a Senate hearing this morning.
In his defence, the Treasury boss noted that the initial costs were estimated under the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic — which at the time was spreading at a daily rate of above 20 per cent, as Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, also appearing, helpfully pointed out — would lead to “very significant constraint measures”.
Back then, the forecast was for a 25 per cent collapse in GDP in the June quarter, Dr Kennedy said. But since then, what Dr Kennedy calls the “remarkably” good health outcomes have allowed fewer restrictions and an earlier reopening of the economy. Economists now expect the economy to shrink by 6-8 per cent in this quarter.
READ MORE: Sloan — Treasury’s dodgy maths are going to cost taxpayers a motza
MAX MADDISON 12.40pm: Berejiklian says rebel venue to face full force of law
The wedding business which intends to run ceremonies with hundreds of guests will face the full force of the law, says Premier Gladys Berejiklian, despite tens of thousands attending Black Lives Matter protests on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference, Ms Berejiklian said if any business disregarded health regulations they would face consequences, as she begged people for patience.
“Can I say, can I just ask everybody to please be patient? There isn’t much more to wait in terms of making sure that every aspect of businesses that have felt restricted will have some pressure released in the near future, so long as all of us keep doing the right thing,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Let’s not forget — and I hate to remind people of this, because it wasn’t a happy occasion for those involved —- but a lot of the breakouts that happened in NSW were at events like weddings.”
Despite the protests, Ms Berejiklian said there was “no excuse” for “anybody thinking they’re above the health orders”. “There is no excuse for anybody, any organisation, anybody thinking they’re above the health orders.”
READ MORE: Venue to defy NSW rules on weddings
Kieran Gair 12.20pm: Protest double standard —wedding venue to defy ban
The chief executive of Navarra Venues, Sal Navarra, has pledged to ignore the NSW Government’s strict social distancing rules and reopen the company’s string of wedding venues to “any numbers” next month.
In a detailed address to the company’s 40,000 followers on Instagram, Mr Navarra said he didn’t want to “deal with upset brides anymore” and said large crowds at the Black Lives Matter protests in Sydney at the weekend had cemented his decision to reopen.
He said the company would openly flout the 20-person wedding limit at the group’s five venues across Sydney from July 1, including at Le Montage in Lilyfied which has a capacity of 1200 people and Oatlands House in Sydney’s northwest which has a capacity of 550.
Mr Navarra also claimed restaurants had defied coronavirus rules over the weekend after he witnessed “many” Sydney establishments serving more than the state government-mandated limit of 50 customers.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
Robyn Wuth 12pm: Biosecurity officers board Chinese cargo vessel
Biosecurity officers have boarded a Chinese cargo ship off the coast of Queensland to ensure the crew is complying with the COVID-19 health requirements.
A spokesman for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the ship’s captain initially refused to allow health authorities to inspect every room but is now cooperating with authorities.
The Premier said on Tuesday there was no evidence the crew were displaying symptoms of the virus. — AAP
READ MORE: China’s espionage, tech-theft ‘has global reach’
Max Maddison 11.40am: NSW reports two new cases over past 24 hours
NSW has recorded two new cases, both of which are travellers in hotel quarantine.
The updated figures from NSW Health brings the total of confirmed cases in the state to 3114. In addition, health authorities said the case which was under investigation from yesterday, was likely to have been “acquired overseas some weeks ago, and to be longer infectious”. NSW Health said it is waiting for blood tests to confirm whether the positive swab represents an old infection.
Since 8pm last night, there have been 2 new cases of #COVID19 diagnosed, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 3,114.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) June 9, 2020
Both of the new cases today are travellers in hotel quarantine. pic.twitter.com/oR1BR49XuH
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No people in NSW are currently in intensive care.
Of the three cases recorded in the 24 hours prior, one was of unknown origin. But NSW Health on Tuesday said the case was most likely acquired overseas some weeks ago and no longer infectious.
If so, NSW has not recorded a locally-acquired virus case since May 27. “NSW Health is waiting for the results of a blood test to show whether the positive swab result represents an old infection,” NSW Health acting director Dr Christine Selvey said in a video update on Tuesday.
“The virus is likely still circulating among people in the community with mild symptoms and as such, the risk of outbreaks and a resurgence remains.”
MACKENZIE SCOTT 11.35am: Demand for property rises after HomeBuilder
Demand for property has increased on the back of the federal government’s housing and construction stimulus announcement, according to new data from online property portal Realestate.com.au.
Search for properties on the market increased 2.5 per cent last week following the announcement of the $688m HomeBuilder stimulus package, which will provide a $25,000 grant for new housing and renovations in a bid to kickstart the construction industry.
While demand for property to purchase trended higher over the past 10 weeks, search for rental properties fell once again, down a further 3.1 per cent last week. Realestate.com.au’s executive manager of economic research Cameron Kusher said the first home buyer targeted stimulus will place further strain on the rental market.
“The HomeBuilder package announced late last week is likely to drive even more demand for properties for sale while it is also likely to drive further reductions in rental demand,” Mr Kusher said. “Especially given the attractive incentives for first home buyers which may see them take the leap from renting to ownership. This in turn could exacerbate price reductions in the rental market.
“Search data is painting a tale of two very different markets, rental demand is clearly waning while interest and demand for properties to purchase continues to climb,” he said.
The national rise in the number of property searches last week was led by Tasmania and Western Australia, while NSW and Northern Territory recorded falls. For sale search volumes were much stronger compared to the same time last year when the downturn was bottoming, with the annual changes in search data most prominent in the ACT (up 102.5 per cent) and Western Australia (up 49.7 per cent) and New South Wales (up 31.1 per cent).
READ MORE: Homebuyers back in game
Max Maddison 11.30am: Queensland records no new virus cases
Queensland has notched another day of no new cases of coronavirus, says Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Speaking at a press conference, Ms Palaszczuk said only three cases remained active across the state, with 1,062 confirmed cases since the outbreak began.
“So, once again, that’s excellent news for Queensland. And I always want to congratulate Queenslanders for doing this great job, because we all have to be in it together, and it’s just
tremendous news,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Tuesday, 9 June – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) June 9, 2020
• 0 new confirmed cases
• 3 active cases
• 1,062 total confirmed cases
• 224,050 tests conducted
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,051 patients have recovered.#COVID_19 pic.twitter.com/4ys83g68mA
READ MORE: Self-indulgent’ Labor MP Graham Perrett who marched at Brisbane rally cleared for parliament
GERARD COCKBURN 11.25am: Two million Aussies access early superannuation
Billions of dollars continues to be leached from the country’s super funds as early withdrawal requests near two million. Latest figures released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows $13.5bn has been drained from the country’s near $3 trillion retirement pool, from members requesting hardship payments due to COVID-19.
As at May 31, 1.96 million Australians had lodged withdrawals requests with the Australian Taxation Office, for an average payment of $7473.
The early release of super scheme was implemented by the federal government in April, as a support measure to assist Australians who have been affected by the economic downturn induced by the pandemic.
People that have become unemployed or experienced a reduction in working hours are able to access up to $10,000 this current financial year and the 2021 financial year.
The Treasury on June 3 estimated total payments made to members equated to $15.3bn.
Data from APRA shows 95 per cent of claims are being paid within five business days, while the median processing time is 3.3 days.
READ MORE: James Kirby — SMSF figures just don’t add up
Max Maddison 11.05am: Canberra considers ‘decreased capacity’ crowds for NRL
The federal government is considering “decreased capacity” crowds for the NRL, says deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth.
With the NSW state government giving the green light for corporate boxes with up to 50 patrons from this weekend, Dr Coatsworth said the federal government is considering “controlled” seating at football games.
“The important thing of course about the footy is you have a large number of people, like we saw on the weekend with the protests of course, coming together in different parts of the city and then dispersing into the city,” Dr Coatsworth told the Today Show on the Nine Network. “You can be a little more controlled in a stadium than you can in a protest.”
ARL Chairman Search Results Peter V’landys has previously indicated that he expects crowds to return by July 1. — With AAP
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Max Maddison 10.45am: Andrews: ‘We’re nowhere near the end of this’
With no new cases of coronavirus reported, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state is beginning to see “greater stability”.
“These things can change rapidly, of course. We are nowhere near the end of it. It is pleasing to have a day with zero new cases there,” Mr Andrews said.
“And the logic behind that, of course, is the more testing you do, the better picture of how much virus you have in the community, becomes clear to you, and you can make evidence-based decisions.”
READ MORE: Treasurer’s dodgy maths costing a motza
Max Maddison 10.35am: WHO casts doubt on transmission theory
The World Health Organisation says asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is “very rare”, contradicting much of the advice given by government health agencies across the world.
The fresh claim places significant doubt on research that said the outbreak was difficult to contain due to patients who didn’t show symptoms.
While the WHO said transmission was possible, the rarity of asymptomatic spread meant government’s should be focused on identifying and isolating infected people.
While Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, said more research and data was required to “truly answer” whether asymptomatic transmission was possible, the data currently available suggested it wasn’t likely.
“We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. They’re following asymptomatic cases, they’re following contacts, and they’re not finding secondary transmission onward,” Dr Van Kerkhove said at a WHO press conference.
“It’s very rare. Much of that is not published in the literature.”
READ MORE: Shares surge early
Rachel Baxendale 10.20am: Protesters need to get tested, health chief warns
Victoria has confirmed no news COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, for only the second time since the pandemic was declared.
However, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has called for vigilance, after thousands of Victorians attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday - the only other day of the pandemic when no new cases were confirmed.
Professor Sutton said the low rate of community transmission had meant the easing of some restrictions, such as gatherings of 20 people.
“Although it’s tempting to rush out or have your friends over or head out to a cafe, it is important that we all still use common sense. In all your activities, be considered, be cautious and stay safe. And if you don’t have to do it – don’t.
“If you attended the protest in the city last Saturday and develop any symptoms, no matter how mild, it is critically important that you get tested.”
Victoria’s total number of cases is now 1687.
The state’s death toll remains 19, with no deaths in recent days.
There have been 178 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that have been acquired through unknown transmission, and there are currently 64 active cases in the state.
Seven people are in hospital, including one in intensive care, and 1602 people have recovered.
Almost 548,000 tests have been processed to date.
READ MORE: Cold War follows COVID footsteps
Staff Reporters 9.55am: Queensland border battle gets top billing
A billboard calling for the Palaszczuk government open up the Queensland-NSW border has been put up at a busy Gold Coast intersection.
Burleigh LNP MP Michael Hart is behind the advertising push to get Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to reconsider her tough stance on COVID-19 restrictions.
Coast tourism leaders have told the Gold Coast Bulletin that it is costing the city $310 million every month it is closed and thousands of jobs.
Max Maddison 9.35am: Treasurer urges: ‘Go out and grow’
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been out spruiking the expansion of the Instant Asset Write off until the end of the year, which will include purchases of up to $150,000.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Frydenberg said the six-month extension would enable businesses to “go out and grow”.
“What we want to do now at a time as people are getting back to work and demand is maybe a little bit slower than it was pre-crisis, is to encourage businesses to go out and grow and to invest and to hire, and this is a measure to do just that,” Mr Frydenberg said.
READ MORE: Crunch time for universities
Max Maddison 9.10am: Premier Andrews’s ‘double standard’ on crowds
Federal Liberal MP Tim Wilson has criticised Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for using the “hard fist of government and the police” to shut down recreational activities, but not mass rallies that endanger public health.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Wilson said the blame of another COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria would fall squarely on the shoulders of Premier Daniel Andrews due to his reluctance to enforce the law equally.
“Now they’re seeing an unequal application of the law, just because the Premier doesn’t want to do the right thing and stand up and enforce the law equally for everyone,” Mr Wilson said.
“And suddenly when you get social and recreational activities, and they use the hard fist of the government and the police force to shut it down, but they won’t do it to protect public health.”
Mr Wilson said the double standards across Victoria were “annoying everyone”, because people had made sacrifices.
“If we see another outbreak of COVID as a consequence of the protest on the weekend, the blame will fall squarely with the Premier Daniel Andrews because he was so reluctant in wanting to enforce the law,” Mr Wilson said.
READ MORE: Pier’s off — fishers marched
Agencies 8.25am: Trump eyes return of campaign rallies
President Donald Trump is aiming to resume campaign rallies in the coming weeks, though the locations and coronavirus precautions still are being worked out, AP reports.
Trump’s rally schedule came to a sudden halt three months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic largely shuttered the nation, but the president has been eager to get back on the campaign trail and resume the rallies that have been the hallmark of his political career.
The president’s eagerness to resume rallies comes as internal and public surveys show his re-election campaign against Democrat Joe Biden is struggling.
He’s also looking for a campaign reset as the nation tries to adjust to a new normal after contending with the virus, a teetering economy and weeks of nationwide protests against racial injustice.
Trump announced last week that he was pulling the public portions of the 2020 GOP convention from Charlotte after North Carolina would not guarantee that he would be allowed to fill an arena with mask-less supporters. GOP officials are visiting other cities to determine if they could host the president’s acceptance speech when he is renominated.
Some Trump aides have tried to temper the president’s enthusiasm for holding events before large crowds, warning of negative media coverage should any attendees subsequently come down with the virus.
READ MORE: When enemies gather
Max Maddison 8.10am: Childcare support to become ‘more targeted’
Education Minister Dan Tehan has just told ABC News that the JobKeeper would always be reviewed in June, as he explains the decision to end the federal government’s free childcare package.
Despite claims the government has broken promises by discontinuing free childcare from July 12, Mr Tehan says the plan was always to reconsider the plan and consider making it more targeted.
“We’ve always said that we would review JobKeeper. We said that we would review it in June. We said that we would make changes if it needed to be more targeted,” Mr Tehan said,
“We had discussions with the sector, and it was seen that it was much more equitable to have a transition payment that went right across the sector, which enabled the sector to be able to transition from the relief package that we put in place to these new arrangements.”
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Max Maddison 7.45am: ‘Sense of urgency’ on HomeBuilder scheme
Housing Minister Michael Sukkar says the government’s strict December deadline for the HomeBuilder program will “create a sense of urgency”, with the government eyeing “big projects, big rebuilds”.
Mr Sukkar said the goal was to ensure tradies were kept working, without repeating Labor’s mistakes.
“We don’t want a program where people are installing flat-packs from IKEA. We want trades on-site - big projects, big rebuilds,” Mr Sukkar told Ben Fordham on Sydney radio 2GB. A job is a job … but what we didn’t want is Pink batts 2.0.”
Mr Sukkar said he hoped the program would be a “catalyst” for jobs that had been put on ice when the coronavirus hit, but despite criticism about the time frame and scope of the scheme, the $150,000 minimum spend was intended to “rort proof” the system.
He pointed to the 12,000 people who had already registered as evidence of the scheme’s likely success.
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Patrick Commins 7.30am: Deepest recession since WW2 to hit economy
The COVID-19 pandemic will plunge the global economy into its deepest recession since the second world war and propel “many millions” of people into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank’s latest economic outlook.
Global output will shrink by 5.2 per cent in 2020, while economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink 7 per cent “as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted,” the report says.
Few corners of the world will be left untouched by the pandemic, and the proportion of countries suffering per capita downturns will exceed 90 per cent - the highest since 1870.
Emerging economies will contract by 2.5 per cent - the steepest fall in 60 years.
“Per capita incomes are expected to decline by 3.6 per cent, which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year,” the report said.
The latest grim forecast from the global body comes as Australia enters its first recession in close to three decades. The Reserve Bank predicts our economy will contract by 6 per cent in 2020, although the earlier than expected easing of restrictions has offered hope for a less severe downturn.
The World Bank economists say that under a worst-case scenario global GDP could shrink by almost 8 per cent - a grim outcome which also lead to “sluggish” recovery, “hampered by severely impaired balance sheets, heightened financial market stress, and widespread bankruptcies” in emerging markets and developing economies.
The best case is for a 4 per cent slump - still more than twice as deep as the global recession of 2009. Under this upside scenario, “a sharp economic rebound would begin promptly if pandemic-control measures could be largely lifted in the near term, and fiscal and monetary policy responses succeed in supporting consumer and investor confidence”.
The World Bank warned that over the longer term, “the deep recessions triggered by the pandemic are expected to leave lasting scars through lower investment, an erosion of human capital through lost work and schooling, and fragmentation of global trade and supply linkages”.
READ MORE: Virgin bond holders ‘anxious’
Max Maddison 7.15am: Global coronavirus cases pass 7 million
Global confirmed cases of coronavirus have passed 7 million, according to John Hopkins University.
Of the 7,073,970 cases across the globe, the US total makes up more than a quarter; Brazil is in second, with almost 700,000. Russia has the third most, while the UK has the fourth-most cases.
The global death toll has surpassed 400,000. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases is larger than the population of Bulgaria, Libya or Lebanon.
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Max Maddison 7.05am: Shorten: rogue protest MPs should self-isolate
Former opposition leader Bill Shorten says he didn’t support the weekend’s rallies, and believes the Victorian politicians who broke lockdown restrictions to attend a Black Lives Matter protest should set an example and self isolate.
Speaking to morning television Today, the opposition minister for government services said police clearing fishermen from a pier in the Mornington Peninsula seemed to be “double standards”.
“People will put up with a lot, as long as they think everyone else is putting up with a lot. A saw some politicians who turned up at the protest who said they are not going to self isolate. They need to set an example and self isolate. I didn’t support the protest. Now you can’t have double standards,” Mr Shorten said.
While Mr Shorten said the issue of 450 Aboriginal deaths in custody was “shocking”, people had missed major milestones throughout the lockdown.
“That’s shocking. No-one has ever been held responsible. That’s a fundamental issue. But just for - we are in a public health emergency and everyone is trying to do their best, and I think that on balance, there will be - the time to protest will come.”
READ MORE: Peaceful protests don’t work
Max Maddison 6.45am: Jails boss defends use of teargas on inmates
The Commissioner of NSW Corrective Services says it was “very regrettable” that teargas used to quell trouble at Sydney’s Long Bay Jail resulted in local residents fleeing their homes.
But Peter Severin told Ben Fordham on Sydney radio 2GB that the use of chemical munitions was the “most safe way” to deal with the situation. He said it was a “serious incident that had to be managed”, while backing guards on the use of several canisters of tear gas.
Mr Severin said he had “some intelligence” to confirm reports that the fight partially resulted from inmates who were disgruntled at COVID-19 measures that had limited the flow of contraband making its way into the prison.
Impacted residents have been invited to discuss the incident, Mr Severin said, as the jail looked at measures to ensure that deploying chemical munitions didn’t result in residents having to leave their premises.
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Agencies 6.30am: Britain records lowest rise in deaths since March
The UK has recorded the lowest daily rise in the number of coronavirus deaths since March, when the country imposed lockdown measures, AP reports.
As of Sunday afternoon, official figures showed that a further 55 people died after testing positive with the virus. The total death toll rose to 40,597. Scotland and Northern Ireland recorded no new deaths for the second day in a row.
Mondays typically see a lower death figure because of a delay in reporting over the weekend.
READ MORE: Time to close indigenous gap
Agencies 6am: New York City starts to reopen
After three gloomy months and 21,000 deaths that made it the nation’s most lethal hot spot, New York City slowly began reopening on Monday in the biggest test yet of Americans’ ability to keep the coronavirus in check, AP reports.
Stores previously deemed non-essential were cleared to reopen for delivery and kerbside pick-up, though customers cannot yet browse inside. Construction, manufacturing and wholesalers also received the go-ahead to resume work.
New York City, population 8.3 million, accounts for roughly 1 in 5 of the more than 110,000 coronavirus deaths nationwide.
At its peak, the virus killed more than 500 people a day in the city in early to mid-April. The number has since dropped below two dozen.
New hospitalisation, which topped 800 a day for a time, were down to 67 on Saturday. Reopening the economy could spark a resurgence of the virus as people circulate more.
Subway rides are ticking back up after plunging from 5.4 million rides per weekday in February to under 450,000 in April.
READ MORE: Fishers get their marching orders
Richard Ferguson 5.15am: International education sector lobbies Beijing over ban
Australia’s international education sector is pleading with Beijing to lift its travel boycott on Chinese visitors coming to Australia as the Communist Party’s mouthpiece publication the Global Times warns the step is merely the “the tip of the iceberg” in a worsening relationship.
The International Education Association and English Australia will both lobby the Chinese embassy in Canberra over the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s warning at the weekend to its citizens that they avoid Australia because of racist attacks.
The Group of Eight universities have also raised their concerns with the Embassy.
But the Global Times – an outlet considered a leading propaganda tool of the government in Beijing – 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.”
#Australia's claim that #China ignores request for trade discussions is attempt to shift blame for deteriorating bilateral relations to Beijing. #Canberra is the one that's responsible for deteriorating bilateral ties. https://t.co/j4RloKMshs pic.twitter.com/TG14ZcfmZZ
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 8, 2020
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.
Read the full story here.
Glenda Korporaal 5am: Chinese investment in Australia plunges 60pc in 2019
Chinese investment in Australia plummeted by more than 60 per cent last year to $3.4bn, as Beijing shifted capital towards developing nations that have signed up to Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative.
A new report reveals that despite record trade between the two countries, Chinese investment in Australia in 2019 was at its lowest annual level since its 2010 fall from boomtime heights, two years after Chinese minerals and energy sector deals brought in more than $20bn.
The investment dive is part of a broader trend of falling Chinese investment in Western countries such as the US and Canada, as Beijing directs capital flows to reinforce its strategic interests elsewhere in the world.
KPMG’s partner in charge of Asia and international markets, Doug Ferguson, said there had been a big emphasis by the Chinese government in encouraging Chinese investment in the 120 countries that had signed up to the BRI.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 4.45am: Free childcare to end of July 12, Tehan confirms
Free childcare will end on July 12, with Education Minister Dan Tehan declaring emergency support for working parents had “done its job” as he announced a $708m transition package for service providers.
Mr Tehan said demand for childcare had increased rapidly over recent weeks to reach 74 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. As a result, the government was compelled to “change a system that was designed for when demand was falling, to one where demand is increasing”.
In a signal of the government’s determination to scale back emergency fiscal support where possible, childcare operators will no longer be eligible for the JobKeeper wage subsidy from July 20. Instead, the government will pay service providers a fortnightly transition payment of 25 per cent of their pre-COVID fee revenue.
Read the full story here.
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