Coronavirus Australia live news: Palaszczuk’s quarantine camp rejected; No new cases in WA amid snap lockdown
The Queensland Premier’s hopes to quarantine overseas arrivals at a regional workers camp has been dealt a blow with the local mayor insisting his community is against the idea.
- No new cases in WA amid snap lockdown
- We won’t tax our way to net zero: PM
- Dutton attacks ‘political’ lockdown
- NSW won’t close to WA residents
- Lone case sparks WA mayhem
- UK captain Tom Moore in hospital
- WHO visits Wuhan ‘ground zero’
Welcome to live coverage of Australia’s response to the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
WA has recorded no new virus cases amid snap lockdown as premier Mark McGowan announces a review of the hotel quarantine breach and a police investigation.
Scott Morrison has addressed the National Press club outlining priorities for 2021, including vaccines for all by October, economic recovery, protecting aged care, resetting relations with China and not taxing way to zero emissions.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has attacked WA lockdowns, saying they are unrealistic and will cost business. Millions of Perth residents are in lockdown, sparking a swift response from state leaders. A single worker at hotel quarantine forced WA Premier Mark McGowan to instigate a five-day lockdown, amid fears of a spread across the city.
Jess Malcolm 11.15pm: China launches carbon trading scheme
China has launched a carbon trading scheme, as the world’s biggest polluter takes steps towards decarbonising its economy by 2060.
The scheme will let provincial governments set pollution caps for big-polluting businesses for the first time, and allows firms to buy rights to pollute from others with a lower carbon footprint.
The program is expected to drive down overall emissions by making it more costly for power companies to pollute, and is set to eclipse that of the EU to become the world’s largest emission trading scheme.
the Chinese news agency Xinhua said rules for carbon emissions trading management came into effect on Monday.
It reported that more than 2200 power firms across the country — which emit over 26,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year — could now trade their emission quotas.
China has pledged to peak emissions before 2030, and become carbon neutral by 2060.
China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 were estimated at 13.92 billion tonnes - about 29 per cent of the world’s total.
Jess Malcolm 10.30pm: Paris restaurants secretly serving
Restaurants in France are defying lockdown orders and opening in secret, triggering French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to threaten to remove their pandemic support payments.
According to police authorities in Paris, 24 restaurants were fined on the weekend for operating illegally.
Restaurants that have been forced to close during the health crisis can receive up to €10,000 ($15,874) a month, or compensation equal to 20 per cent of their revenue from 2019, capped at €200,000 per month.
But many owners say the money is not enough to make up lost sales and cover the rent, forcing upset restaurateurs to call on the government to remove restrictions and let them serve customers.
Mr Le Maire said any restaurants caught serving would see their COVID-19 solidarity funds suspended for a month. The eateries will lose all funding after a second offence.
Last week, a restaurant in Paris was shut down after being caught serving judges at the appeals court on the Ile de la Cite, just opposite from the Paris police headquarters.
A restaurant owner in the Mediterranean city of Nice was also detained for questioning after serving lunch to around 100 people.
Olivia Caisley 9.45pm: Morrison ‘abdication hurts federation’
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles has accused Scott Morrison of putting the federation under enormous stress by “ceding his responsibilities” to the states in allowing them to unilaterally impose ad hoc COVID-19 border restrictions.
Mr Marles also told The Australian he was not sidelining opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers through his elevation to a newly created super portfolio focused on the post-pandemic recovery and said Anthony Albanese would lead the party to the next election.
The biggest winner from the Opposition Leader’s sweeping reshuffle last week, Mr Marles was given a roving brief that includes employment, skills, small business and science, putting him at the centre of Labor’s domestic policy debate.
Mr Marles said it was inevitable he would work closely with Dr Chalmers on the post-COVID-19 economic response.
“Jim leads our economic team and is doing a great job as the shadow treasurer,” he said.
“What we all are clear about is we need to make sure Labor is seen as a safe pair of hands when it comes to the economy.”
Jess Malcolm 9pm: Vic Labor charges former minister over branch-stacking
The Victorian Labor Party has charged former cabinet minister Marlene Kairouz for branch-stacking related offences and has revoked more than 10 per cent of its membership.
In the Labor Party’s biggest purge, it has revoked more than 1800 of its 17,000 members as they were not considered “genuine”.
The internal audit into ALP members was ordered after an investigation by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes, which alleged Victorian cabinet ministers Adem Somyurek, Robin Scott and Ms Kairouz were involved in branch-stacking offences.
Media Statement. pic.twitter.com/kwoe5QY0f1
— Marlene Kairouz MP مرلين كيروز (@MarleneKairouz) February 1, 2021
Ms Kairouz was caught on secret tapes which showed her encouraging parliamentary staff to work on branch stacking activities in what became the ALP’s worst branch-stacking scandal.
Mr Somyurek was sacked by Premier Daniel Andrews.
Ms Kairouz will face the party’s internal disputes tribunal and will be forced out of the party if she is found guilty.
In a statement on Twitter, she denied the allegations, claiming the charges were unrelated to any branch stacking activities and that she has “never stacked branches in (her) life.”
“The charges do not allege that I was engaged in branch stacking activity, but rather I was somehow promoting it or that I knew it was going on and did not report it,’’ she said in a statement.
“It is interesting that white Anglo-Saxon men who have engaged in branch stacking to get into Parliament are not being investigated and charged by administrators, but rather a woman from a multicultural background who has never engaged in branch stacking is being pursued relentlessly.”
READ MORE: Morrison ‘abdication hurts federation’
Jess Malcolm 8.45pm: Israel extends lockdown
Israel has extended its nationwide lockdown to curb a coronavirus outbreak which has continued to spread despite an aggressive vaccination campaign.
The lockdown, which was declared on December 27, is the country’s third since the beginning of the pandemic last year.
Health officials have prolonged the lockdown until Friday morning, but will meet on Wednesday to assess whether a further extension was required.
Israel — with a population of nine million -— is currently recording more than 5000 cases a day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing for harsher measures, with his political opponents saying they would only agree if fines were increased for rule violators.
Israel’s lockdown also includes an unprecedented airport and border closure, which Mr Netanyahu has described as a necessary weapon in the “arms race” against coronavirus variants.
READ MORE: Morrison ‘abdication hurts federation’
Paul Garvey 8.20pm: Perth man charged with refusing to wear mask
A man has become the first person to be charged with failing to wear a mask in Perth.
The 41-year-old from Ellenbrook, in Perth’s outer northeast, was arrested, charged and refused bail after he allegedly refused to wear a mask on Monday.
WA police said officers had approached the man outside a shopping centre in Midland, informed him of the newly introduced rules requiring people to wear masks in public, and offered him a free face mask.
Police allege he declined to wear the mask and was arrested. He is also alleged to have refused to provide police with his name.
WA police commissioner Chris Dawson said on Monday morning that police would be guided by a “knucklehead policy” under which fines would only be handed out to people who proved particularly obstinate.
In a statement, a WA police spokesperson said the initial interaction with the man was to ensure he was aware of the requirement to wear a face mask.
“The initial approach by the officers was simply to engage with the man and ensure he was aware there is a legal requirement to wear a face mask in public. When it was established he did not have a face mask, he was offered one for free by the officers to assist him comply with the legal requirement. At that stage there was no intention to arrest or charge the man.
“However, once it was confirmed the man was aware of the legal requirement, had the ability to now comply with that legal requirement, and that he continued to fail to comply the direction, the officers acted in the best interest of the community and arrested him.
“Everyone in the community has a shared responsibility to prevent the spread of the COVID virus, and while police officers will operate under a ‘compliance with compassion’ approach, where there is a clear case of a person failing to comply with the direction, police will act to protect the community.”
The mask rule was introduced at 6pm on Sunday night as Perth entered a five-day lockdown.
READ MORE: How to work at home without pain and extra pounds
Yoni Bashan 7.55pm: Former fire chief rejected offer to enter politics
Former NSW Rural Fire Service chief Shane Fitzsimmons was sought by the Berejiklian government to consider a run for parliament at the 2023 state election, with the Australian of the Year finalist touted as a potential candidate for the safe seat of Wakehurst.
However, Mr Fitzsimmons, whose public profile grew substantially during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, left some Liberal MPs disappointed after indicating he was not interested in pursuing a career in politics, preferring to remain a public servant.
The former RFS commissioner retired in April last year to helm a new entity, Resilience NSW, billed as a leading disaster and emergency response agency. It has been criticised by some MPs for hiring large numbers of highly paid senior managers and producing few reports and briefings for the government months after its formation.
Jess Malcolm 7.25pm: Perth outbreak will grow, expert warns
Many more cases will emerge in Perth in the coming day because of low testing rates, a health expert has warned.
The prediction from epidemiologist Tony Blakely predicts came after WA authorities confirmed that the security guard who triggered the five-day lockdown in Western Australia was infected by a highly infectious UK coronavirus variant.
“At first of all there were only 3000 tests — and we are used to seeing 20,000- 30,000 tests a day in NSW and Victoria, for example,” Mr Blakley said on Ten’s The Project.
“Some of these contract sites were from two or three days ago. Someone who picked it up in that window would not have picked it up where they are then giving off the virus themselves.”
Mr Blakely also criticised the fact that the virus spread through a security guard, suggesting “not all lessons have been learnt”.
READ MORE: How to work at home without pain and extra pounds
Jess Malcolm 6.40pm: Extend JobKeeper or ‘we won’t have a tourism industry’
Tourism and Transport Forum chief Margy Osmond has renewed calls for the federal government to extend JobKeeper past its March end-date, citing figures that say the industry will be decimated by September.
“The way the situation exists for the industry now is that since 2019, when we had 1.1 million permanent full-time positions in the industry, we lost 506,000 of those positions last year,” Ms Osmond said on Monday.
“If JobKeeper doesn’t extend past March, we will lose another 318,000 full-time positions by September and the industry will be less than a third of its normal size... We won’t have a tourism industry.”
Ms Osmond also criticised premiers’ decisions to close borders over the summer, which saw the tourism industry lose $7bn last month alone.
“This is going to be an infinitely more difficult year for a whole lot of reasons, and a lot of that will be to do with the premiers coming to grips with the fact that they are doing radical economic damage because of those border closures.”
READ MORE: Sparks fly over ‘kneejerk border closures’
Michael McKenna 6.15pm: Mayor spurns Palaszczuk’s quarantine camp
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s hopes to quarantine overseas arrivals at a regional workers camp has been dealt a blow with the local mayor saying his community is against the idea.
In a letter to Ms Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday, Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett said the proposal to use the 1392-room Homeground mining camp in Calliope was too risky.
The camp — 20 minutes’ drive west of Gladstone — and a yet-to-be-built, purpose-designed facility in Toowoomba are the two sites flagged as alternatives for hotel quarantine in Queensland.
Last month, Ms Palaszczuk confirmed the government was considering the proposal after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel in Brisbane was infected with the British variant of the virus, prompting a three-day lockdown of the capital.
Mr Burnett had previously raised concerns.
But his letter said that after canvassing the proposal in the region he wanted to inform both leaders that it “is not supported by the local community’’.
“I have personally kept an open mind on this proposal as myself and my fellow councillors await your response to our concerns,’’ he said.
“However, during the past two weeks our community has expressed its views on the matter and has made its opposition clear.
“The potential for an increased risk of community transmission locally, and the shutdown of our industrial economy that could cause, as well as the lack appropriate medical services, are concerns shared by many in the region including the Gladstone Leadership Group and the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”
Mr Burnett said he hoped his community’s concerns would be taken into consideration.
It is understood the federal government had given in-principle support to give approval for international passenger flights to land at Rockhampton airport.
Mr Morrison has initially said he was open to the quarantine camp idea.
But his position changed last month during a visit to the region after meetings with Mr Burnett and Flynn MP Ken O’Dowd.
Mr Morrison said he had not seen the proposal but there were “clear concerns”.
“For something like that to even be considered, I think the Premier would need to get the local Labor mayor on board, and I don’t think that’s happening at this point,” he said.
READ MORE: Extreme right plots to weaponise Covid
Jess Malcolm 6pm: Fletcher stares down Google threats
The Morrison government will not back down against threats from Google to pull out of Australia over the proposed Media Bargaining Code, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says.
The reforms — which would require tech giants like Google and Facebook to pay for their use of news content from Australian media organisations — are being weighed by a Senate committee.
“We’re going through a careful, thorough public policy process and we’ll take it through to its conclusion to legislate,” Mr Fletcher said on Monday.
“The mere fact a particular business says, ‘Oh, we don’t like that. If you do that, we’ll exit the market’, well, we’re not going to be deterred by that.”
Mr Fletcher suggested Microsoft might be interest in expanding in Australian, following discussions between the federal government and the technology company.
“What I think we can expect is if Google were to leave, and that’s a matter for them, we’re not encouraging that, that would entirely be a matter for them, but if they were to leave there, there are other market participants,” he said.
“It will be an attractive market opportunity. And I think we can expect to see investment by other players and that’s certainly the takeaway from the meeting with Microsoft.”
READ MORE: Microsoft eager to fill void if Google exits
Jess Malcolm 5.40pm: ‘Deep concern’ for democracy in Myanmar: Tehan
Dan Tehan says the federal government has yet to consider reimposing trade sanctions against Myanmar, following the country’s declaration of a state of emergency and escalating military coup.
The Tourism and Trade Minister’s comments on Monday came hours after National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained amid concerns over election fraud.
“We’ll continue to monitor and watch those events,” Mr Tehen said. “As those events transpire, we’ll have more to say on that.”
“But at this stage we have expressed our deep concern and are calling on everyone to make sure that democracy is not only respected but the elections that occurred, which everyone says were thorough, were genuine, they are respected and the rightful government can take its place.”
Foreign Minister Marise Payne earlier called on the army to “respect the rule of law” and release anyone who has been unlawfully detailed.
READ MORE: Banks closed in Myanmar amid military coup
Jess Malcolm 5.15pm: Tehan reaches out to China
Newly minted Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan says he wants to engage “constructively” with the Chinese government, following a meeting of 30 trade ministers from around the world.
Mr Tehan said he was still awaiting a response from his Chinese counterpart, after reaching out to him in a letter.
“There will be a lot of commentary, but I want to make sure that the conversation that we have is one which is respectful and one which is done between the two governments,” Mr Tehan told the ABC.
“We had a ministerial meeting of 30 trade ministers on Friday night, my Chinese counterpart was one of those ministers.”
“On that call there was a lot of consensus around the need for us to reform the WTO and I’m sure all ministers from right across the globe will hopefully work towards that end and in other areas where we can work co-operatively together I look forward to doing that as well.
The comments comes amid concern of a soured relationship between Australia and its top trading partner.
READ MORE: Physical education classes will cure boys of ‘feminisation’, say Chinese
Victoaria Laurie 4.45pm: McGowan defends WA hotel quarantine system
WA Premier Mark McGowan says two investigations have been launched into how a hotel quarantine worker became infected with COVID-19, which is being treated as a case of the highly infectious UK variant strain.
He has initiated a review of hotel quarantine by former WA chief health officer Taryn Weeramanthri. A police investigation will run concurrently to find out how the man had become infected when he patrolled a hotel floor occupied by a person who had tested positive for the UK variant.
Mr McGowan defended WA’s hotel quarantine system, saying the government had been working on a plan to offer additional payment for hotel staff to reduce risk of security workers taking on other jobs.
He said the problem was often around enforcement and he hoped to resolve it next week.
“This individual did not do any second job work after becoming infected … We can’t lock people up who work in hotel quarantine. It doesn’t stop people from living a life.”
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the man, who he called ‘Case 903’ after the total number of Covid-positive cases in WA so far, had been highly mobile in the community. “We will investigate all his movements and what initially happened at the hotel.”
Commissioner Dawson admitted that problems could still remain with WA’s hotel quarantine system: it’s still not known how the man contracted the virus, but there was no evidence the man had gone into the infected hotel patient’s room.
Asked why nobody checked on the security guard after he called in sick to his workplace on January 28, he said daily saliva testing of security staff was now being done.
“There will be lessons learned, and that is why we are conducting these reviews.”
He said police had checked with Perth’s three rideshare companies and there was no evidence he had driven after January 22, or during the period he could be infected.
Covid testing clinics around Perth and outlying regions were increased overnight from seven to 25 locations, with pathology labs brought in to reduce long lines of people waiting for tests.
Jessica Malcolm 4.35pm: Epidemiologist warns on October vaccine deadline
Epidemiologist and World Health Organisation adviser Mary-Louise McLaws has flagged that Australia will struggle to meet the federal government’s October vaccination deadline amid rising supply concerns.
Professor McLaws warned Australia must urgently ramp up local production of AstraZeneca vaccine in order to meet the October deadline.
“One of the challenges in Australia is that we’re only going to get about 80,000 doses of Pfizer each week which will then slow down the vaccination of our phase one frontline and vulnerable,” Professor McLaws said.
“That means it will take about 17 weeks just with the quick calculation that you have to be vaccinated twice, that will take about 17 weeks which is, you know, just over four months.”
“The country wanted everyone to be vaccinated by the end of October. Frontline workers need to be vaccinated rapidly and much earlier than that.”
Europe’s reliance on the Pfizer vaccine to curb its outbreak will mean Australia will struggle to secure enough of that vaccine, Professor McLaws told the ABC.
“They’ve been caught short because they’re now out of control, the numbers are going up, and I think they’re becoming far more protective over the supply than they should have. They have also got a real problem with the new variants around.”
Anthony Piovesan 4.25pm: Four reasons to leave home in WA
Perth residents can only leave their homes for four “essential” reasons as the city continues its five-day COVID-19 lockdown.
Residents in the Perth, Peel and South-West regions are only allowed outside their homes to shop for essentials and medicine, access medical or health care services, exercise or to go to work if it cannot be done from home.
Health authorities clarified exercise can only be done outside within your neighbourhood and for one hour per day.
Visitors to a home are also not allowed, unless the guest is there to care for a vulnerable person.
WA Premier Mark McGowan on Monday said non-essential retail shops would shut as part of Perth’s snap five-day lockdown, with an expansion of the state’s mandatory Covid-safe sign-in process moved forward to Tuesday.
“This expansion includes businesses such as retail venues, certain clubs, commercial transport, takeaway services, and visitors at all WA private and public hospitals,” he said.
“The changes were due to come into effect from Friday, February 12, but in light of the new situation we find ourselves in, the expanded system will come into effect from 6am tomorrow.”
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said residents must “work with the directions”, saying authorities had already turned around some travellers on Monday morning.
“You can‘t go out of the Perth metropolitan area,” he told reporters.
“If you want to tow on a caravan and go on holiday you must stay within the Perth metropolitan area.”
Mr Dawson said nearly a million vehicles passed across WA's internal borders in 2020, with the QR declaration passes keeping things running smoothly, and signalled a return to the system.
He said drivers should have either a declaration or “documentation that authenticates your work as a driver who needs to go somewhere for your essential work” if they needed to move around during lockdown.
Commissioner Dawson also said drivers needed to wear a face mask.
“You can do it without a mask in a vehicle but you will need (the mask) the moment you step out of it. Everyone needs a mask,” he said.
READ MORE: Wesfarmers warns WA up track and trace abilities
Rebecca Le May 3.15pm: No new cases in WA amid snap lockdown
The hotel quarantine guard who sparked a 5-day lockdown in the most populated parts of Western Australia has the UK mutant strain, but no new cases have emerged.
The Perth, Peel and South West regions were plunged into lockdown from 6pm WST on Sunday after it emerged a man aged in his 20s contracted the virus while working as a hotel quarantine guard at Four Points by Sheraton in the CBD.
He is the state’s first case of community transmission in almost 10 months.
It has been confirmed he caught the highly contagious UK variant as he had worked on the same floor as a case of that strain.
WA Premier Mark McGowan told reporters on Monday that no new cases had been confirmed overnight despite 3171 tests being conducted at public COVID clinics on Sunday afternoon and evening.
Mr McGowan said 66 close contacts of the man had been identified, all of whom had been tested or would be tested later on Monday.
“There has been extensive testing of the close contacts of the positive case and that will continue,” the Premier said.
“Those contacts have tested negative.
“Of those, 11 high risk contacts have been moved into high hotel quarantine as extra precaution.
“As the contact tracing team does further work, the number of close contacts could also increase.
“These are encouraging signs but it is still early days.”
Mr McGowan also announced there would be two reviews of WA’s hotel quarantine system, with one led by a former chief health officer and another by police.
“We will leave no stone unturned to ensure we find out exactly what happened to prevent it from happening again,” he said.
Questions are being raised about why WA doesn’t appear to have learnt from Victoria’s hotel quarantine debacle.
“The government has dropped the ball in terms of the preparations we needed here,” Australian Medical Association WA president Andrew Miller told 6PR on Monday, weeks after he suggested measures including bus drivers having to wear masks.
“It’s very likely we’ll see more community cases.
“The reason they are taking over is they’re more successful than the other one for spreading itself.”
The confirmed case visited 16 locations between Monday last week and Saturday — many in Maylands where he resides and including the Nedlands GP clinic he went to on Friday – and it is feared he may have spread the virus widely.
It is believed he became infected on Tuesday or Wednesday before he developed symptoms on Thursday.
Unlike last year’s first wave lockdown, wearing a mask is now mandatory for people aged over 12 at all times outside, while working indoors, on public transport and while driving in vehicles with other people.
READ MORE: Fresh highs for home loan lending
Ben Packham 2.05pm: Australia opposes Myanmar military takeover: PM
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed concern at the military takeover in Myanmar, saying Australia wants to see the country complete its democratic transition.
“Clearly, there are very significant hurdles for them still to overcome and the tensions are still very present,” the Prime Minister said.
“We have joined in a statement last Friday, opposing any efforts to alter the election outcome and urging the military and all parties to adhere to democratic norms.
“We have done that with Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and EU countries as well.
“We all hope for what I know the Myanmar people want to achieve. I found them the most beautiful of people when I was there, so peaceful in nature but having suffered such terrible violence over the course of their nation’s history.”
READ MORE: Myanmar military says it is taking control of country
David Swan 1.55pm: Media bargain code laws ‘don’t go far enough’
The government’s proposed news media bargaining code does not go far enough and should be broadened to force the tech giants to reveal their mysterious algorithms, a Senate committee reviewing the new laws has heard.
Speaking at a committee hearing on Monday Matt Nguyen, the policy lead for technology advocacy group Reset Australia, said that the bargaining code, which would force tech giants to pay publishers for news content, should be widened to help fight fake news on Google and Facebook’s platforms.
“We believe the bill should go further,” Mr Nguyen said. “The legislation should establish an empowered audit authority, which should be capable of assessing how well ad revenue redistribution and algorithmic curation of news are serving the public.”
Independent South Australian Senator Rex Patrick last week flagged amendments to the bargaining code legislation, including requiring the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to conduct regulator audits of algorithms used by tech platforms that impact on access of Australian news media.
Mr Nguyen said the regulator should examine how the tech giants’ algorithms monetise and promote disinformation ahead of accurate information.
READ the full story here.
Adeshola Ore 1.40pm: We can’t run a blank-cheque budget: PM on JobKeeper
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the wage subsidy JobKeeper amid criticism that companies used the payments for executive bonuses.
On Sunday, Josh Frydenberg said that companies which could afford to pay bonuses should repay JobKeeper payments.
Mr Morison said that the wage subsidy had saved 700,000 Australians’ jobs and made a “big change” to the country during the pandemic.
“If there are some companies that feel that they want to hand that back, great! Good for them,” he said.
“Let’s not lose sight in some sort of envy narrative that that program did not change the course of the nation”
Speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, Mr Morrison warned that the government could not run a “blank-cheque budget” ahead of JobKeeper and JobSeeker ending next month.
James Madden 1.35pm: Don’t capitulate to big tech ‘bullies’, hearing told
The director of the Centre for Responsible Technology, Peter Lewis, has told a Senate hearing into the mandatory news media bargaining code that the Australian government must stand up to the “bullies” of Google and Facebook in order to maintain a sustainable democracy.
“Right now Australia is being confronted with Big Tech’s big stick – the threat to kill one in order to warn 100. Chairman Mao would have approved,” Mr Lewis said.
The implementation of the media code – which will see the digital platforms required to pay news publishers for their content – was a significant moment in Australia’s history, Mr Lewis said.
He said the threats by digital platforms to walk away from the Australian market if the codes became law were “appalling”.
“If they were now to walk away because our democratic process results in a set of rules they don’t like, then it would permanently shape the way Australians will view them and other tech companies promising such partnerships,” Mr Lewis told the hearing.
“So what should this committee do in the face of these threats?
“Capitulation will be a recognition that Big Tech is now more powerful than our elected government, a proposition that is just not sustainable.
“I was appalled to witness the threats levelled at you – my elected representatives – and through you the Australian public – on the first day of hearings (last month).”
READ MORE: Microsoft eager to fill void if Google exits
Adeshola Ore 1.25pm: All Australians vaccinated by October the aim: PM
Scott Morrison says Australia remains on track for its vaccine rollout to be completed by October.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, the Prime Minister underscored the importance of vaccine delivery for restoring the Australian economy.
“Our aim is to offer all Australians the opportunity to be vaccinated by October 2021, commencing in just a few weeks’ time,” he said.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration confirmed the approval of the Pfizer vaccine last week, with rollout set to begin in late February.
Adeshola Ore 1.10pm: ‘New realities’ of Australia-China relations
Scott Morrison says Australia must forge a new relationship with China and adapt to the
“new realities” of the partnership between the two countries.
Speaking at the National Press Club, the Prime Minister said Beijing had changed its approach between the two countries.
Mr Morrison said despite the differences between the two countries, Australia remained committed to an economic relationship with Beijing.
“Our task is to ensure that such differences do not deny Australia, and China, from realising the mutual benefits of that partnership,” he said.
“An enduring partnership requires both of us to adapt to new realities and talk to each other and that begins with dialogue.”
Adeshola Ore 12.58pm: We will not tax our way to net zero: PM
Scott Morrison says the speed of Australia reaching net zero emissions will be driven by technological advancements and vowed to not burden regional Australians with a carbon tax.
Speaking at the National Press Club, the Prime Minister unveiled the government’s top five priorities — including vaccine delivery as key to restoring full economic recovery, protection of essential services including aged care and an environmental agenda under the banner of “caring for country”.
“Our goal is to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible, and preferably by 2050,” Mr Morrison said.
“Science and technology has, as it always has in these areas, set the pace,” he said.
He said the government would not “burden” Australians, particularly regional areas, with a tax on carbon.
“My government will not tax our way to net zero emissions. I will not put that cost on Australians,” he said.
The Morrison government has pledged to lower emissions by 26-28 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.
READ MORE: Tech-first approach best to cut carbon divide
Ben Packham 12.45pm: Australia ‘deeply concerned’ over Myanmar ‘coup’: Payne
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has expressed alarm at developments in Myanmar, where civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and senior government ministers have been detained by the nation’s military in an apparent coup.
“The Australian Government is deeply concerned at reports the Myanmar military is once again seeking to seize control of Myanmar and has detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint,” Senator Payne said.
“Australia is a longstanding supporter of Myanmar and its democratic transition. We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully.”
She said Australia strongly supported the peaceful reconvening of Myanmar’s national assembly, in line with the results of the November 2020 election.
Government spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters news agency that Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” in the early hours of the morning.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he said, adding he also expected to be detained.
The BBC reported earlier that there were soldiers on the streets of the capital, Naypyitaw, and the main city of Yangon, and that telephone and internet lines in Naypyitaw have been cut.
READ MORE: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi arrested by military
Adeshola Ore 12.20pm: Negative WA politicians won’t have to quarantine
Western Australia MPs and senators will be permitted to attend parliament this week after they return a negative COVID test and skip mandatory quarantine.
The state’s snap five-day lockdown threw plans for politicians travelling from Western Australian to Canberra on Sunday into disarray ahead of parliament resuming tomorrow. Attorney-General Christian Porter, who is the leader of the government in the House of Representatives, is among a group of federal politicians who have been self-isolating since touching down in Canberra yesterday.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the affected parliamentarians would be given essential worker permits.
The territory will require anyone who has visited metropolitan Perth, Peel and South West regions of Western Australia from January 25 to quarantine until Friday, regardless of returning a negative COVID test result.
It comes as ACT reinstates border restrictions on WA from 2pm today after a case of community transmission plunged parts of the state into a snap lockdown.
Anyone who has been in metropolitan Perth, Peel and South West regions of the state from January 25, must self-quarantine and get tested upon arrival in the territory.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said if people in isolation returned a negative test result they would still be required to remain in quarantine until 9pm on Friday.
Two million West Australians are now in lockdown until Friday after a security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel spent days in the community after likely being infected with the highly contagious UK variant of the coronavirus.
READ MORE: WHO virus team visits Wuhan wet market
Matt Logue 12.10pm: Perth lockdown plays havoc with NBL
The immediate future of the NBL season could be in jeopardy after a COVID-19 case in Perth had ripple effects across the country. Read more here
Nicholas Jensen 11.50am: NSW won’t close to WA residents
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said NSW will not be closing its borders to Western Australia, saying “we have to appreciate that no system can be perfect” and some effort must be made to balance risk.
In a short address to media, Ms Berejiklian reaffirmed her government’s approach to suppressing the spread of COVID-19, saying NSW is bearing the brunt of returning Australians.
“We [NSW government] do that on compassionate grounds and we do that because, first and foremost, we want to make sure that Australians are able to come back home.”
Regarding the differences in state border restrictions, Ms Berejiklian encouraged premiers to take a reasonable approach.
“Elimination is impossible,” she said. “As long as you are bringing Australians back home – which we have been doing – I don’t think anyone would suggest that we should deny our Australian citizens the ability to come home.”
“While you welcome Australians home there will always be risk there, which is why elimination is not a strategy, strategy must be zero community transmission and that is what we working towards.”
Asked about the potential spread of the new mutant strains, Ms Berejiklian said “we have to assume the mutant strains will become dominant here, because we are seeing the rate of infection increase substantially overseas … In due course it will become the main type of virus.”
READ MORE: Red light for Canberra’s top jobs
Paul Garvey 11.40am: 60 close contacts of infected WA security guard
Western Australian police have identified 60 close contacts of the COVID-positive hotel quarantine security guard who has prompted Perth’s five-day lockdown.
WA police commissioner Chris Dawson told 6PR Radio on Monday that the close contacts of the man were of particular concern.
“The next couple of days are going to be quite critical because there have been 60 identified contacts from this one individual, we call it case 903,” he said.
The man, who is in his 20s, shared an apartment in Maylands with three other men. Those men have all tested negative but are in quarantine and are expected to test positive in the coming days.
WA health authorities have identified 18 venues across Perth visited by the man after he contracted the virus.
“We know this particular case, 903, has been in the community he has been infectious. That’s what we’re concerned about,” he said.
The 60 identified close contacts identified by police have been tested.
“They are being asked to stay where they are, we don’t want them wandering around the community,” he said.
Two million West Australians entered lockdown at 6pm on Sunday night following the first community case of the virus in almost ten months.
West Australians who leave their homes for essential shopping or exercise are required to wear face masks at all times.
The announcement prompted a rush on supermarkets and chemists as people scrambled to purchase masks, but Mr Dawson said he had instructed his officers to use discretion when weighing up whether to impose fines on those who breach the directions.
“I don’t want my officers throwing around fines. That’s not the way to get the community on board,” he said.
Instead, the officers would be guided by what Mr Dawson described as the “knucklehead rule”.
“If people are not obeying, we’ve warned them and they continue to be defiant or belligerent, they will cop a $1000 fine at a minimum or be arrested,” he said.
READ MORE: Infected guard triggers lockdown
Evin Priest 11.30am: Cheap flights on offer as state borders reopen
Virgin Australia has launched a marketing blitz following the reopening of the Queensland border, with fares starting from $75. Read more here
Mackenzie Scott 11.15am: Pandemic pushes house prices to record high
National house prices reached a new all time high as property continued its post-COVID bounceback in January. Read more here
Agencies 11.05am: WHO team investigates virus ground zero
A team of WHO experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 on Sunday visited a market in Wuhan where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged over a year ago.
Members of the group arrived at Huanan seafood market — which has been sealed since January last year — driving into its barricaded premises as guards quickly blocked others from entering, according to AFP journalists at the scene. Read more here
Nicholas Jensen 11am: Tasmania alters travel restrictions after WA case
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has announced adjustments to the state’s travel restrictions in light of Western Australia’s new COVID-19 case.
“After assessment by the Tasmanian public health services, the Perth metropolitan region, Peel and south-west region have been declared high risk areas by the acting Director of Public Health.”
Anyone intending to travel to Tasmania who has been in these high risk areas in the last 14 days will not be permitted to enter Tasmania unless approved by the Deputy State Controller. They will be required to undertake quarantine.
“For the 108 people arriving in Hobart airport late yesterday afternoon, each person has been contacted and asked to self-isolate and will be further contacted by public health today to determine their circumstances and any requirements for further self-isolating and testing,” Mr Gutwein said.
Regarding the resumption of the New Zealand travel bubble, the premier said “based on information, public health have declared a number of premises to the north of Auckland as high risk premises … anyone who attended a New Zealand high risk premises will not be permitted to travel to Tasmania without prior approval”.
READ MORE: WHO virus team visits Wuhan wet market
Nicholas Jensen 10.45am: No new cases but six Covid deaths in Qld
Queensland has recorded another day of zero locally acquired cases as well as no new international cases.
There were 3759 test results received across the state in the past 24 hours.
Queensland currently has six active cases. “Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1295 patients have recovered,” said Annastacia Palaszczuk on Twitter this morning.
Nicholas Jensen 10.30am: Queensland opens up its border to NSW
Queensland has opened its borders to all of NSW as border checkpoints were removed overnight.
As of this morning, the state is no longer deemed a hotspot, with millions of residents across the state now able to enter Queensland without having to undertake mandatory hotel quarantine.
Since the closure of the border, more than 6.8 million border declaration passes have been recorded.
Queensland was to open up to all states and territories in the country, until the state changed its advice regarding recent returns from WA.
Queensland Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the easing was a relief for authorities and the general public alike.
“There is a light at the end of the tunnel, we’re hoping it’s going to get bigger soon,” he said.
READ MORE: Legend sails home to lockdown
Adeshola Ore 10.15am: Union attack ad on Morrison ‘a new low’
Attorney-General Christian Porter has slammed a union advertisement about the government’s industrial relations bill which depicts Scott Morrison driving a bus towards workers as “shameful.”
Scott Morrison's Omnibus Bill will hurt Australian workers.
— CFMEU (@CFMEU_CG) January 30, 2021
Help #StopTheBus https://t.co/WoMogEjlGt pic.twitter.com/Hp3yz9LsBk
The CFMEU advertisement shows the Prime Minister driving a bus labelled “IR omnibus bill” towards a group of workers and smirking.
Mr Porter called for the advertisement to be pulled and said it was “shamefully insensitive” for victims and survivors of road accidents.
“It’s one of the most shameful, insensitive to the families of people who have been the victim of these types of things happening on the roads and disgusting pieces of advertising I’ve seen.” he told 2GB radio.
“I think this ad is a new low point in Australian politics.”
The Morrison government’s industrial relations legislation includes changes to the Fair Work Act’s “better off overall” test. Labor says the changes will cut the take-home pay of workers.
Nicholas Jensen 9.55am: Premiers need to explain lockdowns, Dutton says
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says state premiers should be prepared to explain their rationale behind lockdown following Mark McGowan’s decision to introduce a snap lockdown In WA.
“In terms of an elimination strategy, it might be a great political slogan, but it’s not a realistic approach to this virus,” Mr Dutton told SkyNews this morning.
“You’ll send businesses broke, see a surge in domestic violence, an inability for people to make mortgage repayments, pay their bills, and the pressure when you’ve got kids at home when they should be at school … all of that compounds”
The capacity to track-and-trace has seen an “enormous amount of resource” put into combating this virus, he said. “If there is a single case and it doesn’t spread beyond that, then people rightly, at the end of this period, scratch their heads and wonder if that was necessary”.
Asked about the tensions between the NSW and Queensland governments over border restrictions, Mr Dutton said premiers must be willing to outline their thinking and “logic” if they choose to pursue a tough lockdown approach to tackle so few cases.
READ MORE: Low inflation stalling wages growth
Richard Ferguson 9.45am: Party finances plunge during Covid crisis
Major political party coffers have shrunk with the Liberals’ receipts down by more than $30m and Labor more than $40m worse off compared to the previous year. Read more here
Nicholas Jensen 9.40am: ‘Systemic racism’ at Collingwood AFL club
The Collingwood Football Club has been found guilty of “systemic racism” following an independent review into the club’s culture.
The review concluded that Collingwood’s response to instances of racism were “at best ineffective”.
Collingwood has had the report since December, but has not released any details from it
The reports sets out 18 recommendations which include establishing a process of “truth-telling” and support for players from diverse communities
Collingwood’s history of racism was described as “distinct and egregious”, suggesting that the club’s leadership, especially its board, required significant change.
The review described a culture of “individuals – if not quite being bigger than the club – then at least having an unhealthy degree of influence over Club culture”.
The results of the review come days after Eddie McGuire announced he would be stepping down from the club’s presidency at the end of the 2021 season.
READ MORE: Carlton wipes $7m deficit
Adeshola Ore 9.30am: Angus Taylor targets Labor on emissions
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has attacked Labor’s refusal to commit to medium-term emissions reduction targets, after Chris Bowen was appointed to the opposition’s climate change portfolio in a shadow cabinet shake-up last week.
On Sunday, Mr Bowen refused to outline Labor’s 2030 or 2035 targets but said the party would outline a “pathway” to net zero emissions by 2050.
“Labor is back where it was. It doesn’t have a 2030 target,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.
“That’s the target that’s the most crucial for the Paris agreement because it’s what you can be held accountable for now and Labor’s refused to engage with it.”
The Morrison government’s only formal climate change target is to lower emissions by 26-28 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Mr Taylor said Labor’s refusal to outline medium-term targets suggested it would enforce a carbon tax before the next election.
“It tells you that really what they’ve got in their back pocket is a set of policies like a carbon tax or carbon price in some form which will impose costs on the Australian economy and Australian households and businesses,” he said.
Labor went to the 2019 election with an uncosted 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
READ MORE: Premier problems stall ballot box push
Rachel Baxendale 9.20am: Zero new cases in Victoria
Victoria has reached its 26th consecutive day with no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
Yesterday there were 0 new locally acquired cases reported, and 1 in hotel quarantine. Thanks to all who were tested, there were 10,604 test results received. More information will be available later today: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData #StaySafeStayOpen pic.twitter.com/Fz1FnOxmKZ
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) January 31, 2021
There was one case detected in a recently returned international traveller in hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to Monday.
The state currently has 21 active cases, all of which are in international return travellers in hotel quarantine.
The latest figures come after 10,604 tests were processed on Sunday.
Peter van Onselen 9.10am: PM remains a certainty to win the election
Don’t let today’s Newspoll revealing an electoral dead-heat — 50 per cent a piece according to the two party numbers — fool you. Read more here
Adeshola Ore 8.55am: Dutton criticises ‘political’ WA lockdown
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has criticised Western Australia’s snap lockdown, warning it will hurt businesses.
Two million West Australians have been plunged into five days of hard lockdown after a security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel spent days in the community after likely being infected with the highly contagious UK variant of the coronavirus.
“It might be a great political slogan, it’s not a realistic approach to this virus,” Mr Dutton said.
“You will send businesses broke, the surge in domestic violence when people are in lockdown for a long period,” he told Sky News.
“As we saw in Queensland in the run-up to an election, there was a little bit of panic by Annastacia Palaszczuk at that time and if you look at what’s happening today post election, there’s a more reasonable and measured approach.
“Western Australia’s going into an election in March so there’s all that dynamic, as premiers don’t want viruses getting away.”
READ MORE: Single case sparks mayhem
Nicholas Jensen 8.40am: Morrison lauds WA for patience amid lockdown
Scott Morrison has thanked Western Australians for their patience and co-operation as much of the state heads back into a five-day full lockdown after almost ten months of zero community transmission.
The prime minister said, “the coming days will be difficult for many Western Australians but we’re confident WA will be able to get on top of the current outbreak”.
“A big thank you to everyone in WA for your patients and co-operation as we all work to fight this terrible virus,” he said over Twitter.
The imposition of full lockdown will mean you can only leave your house for essential reasons, including shopping, medical or healthcare needs, exercise for one hour with one other person, and work if you cannot work from home.
For the next five days, pubs, bars, clubs, gyms, indoor and outdoor sporting and recreational venues, cinemas, casinos, large religious gatherings and places of worship, libraries, and cultural institutions will be closed in those affected areas.
Adeshola Ore 8.30am: Labor leader downplays Newspoll ratings drop
Anthony Albanese has defended a drop in his approval rating, as a new poll places the Coalition and Labor in a neck and neck electoral fight ahead of a potential federal election later this year.
The Australian has reported an exclusive Newspoll revealed the electoral contest between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese has tightened, but both leaders have suffered falls in their approval ratings.
“There’s only one poll that counts and the Labor Party learnt that the hard way and some of the media learnt that the hard way as well at the last election. That will be on election day,” the Opposition Leader told the ABC.
“I’m determined to ensure that Labor is ahead on election day.”
READ MORE: Border blues hit Morrison
Nicholas Jensen 8.20am: Albanese condemns ‘shortsighted’ spending plan
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has attacked the Morrison government’s economic reform agenda, saying that Australia has a trillion dollars of debt “but nothing to show from it”.
Mr Albanese criticised the extent of the government’s economic reform as well as its shortsighted spending agenda
Scott Morrison will use a speech at the National Press Club today to lay out his government’s top five priorities and reveal the total cost of the vaccine rollout will reach $6.3bn. Ahead of parliament returning on Tuesday and debate over whether JobKeeper wage subsidy payments should be extended beyond March, Mr Morrison will say “you can’t run the Australian economy on taxpayers’ money forever”.
“The problem here is not that there’s been spending that was needed during a crisis as it was needed during the global financial crisis. The problem here is you have a trillion dollars debt with nothing to show for it,” he said this morning on ABC Radio National.
“What’s the economic reform, or legacy arising out of this – that’s the question.”
Asked about Scott Morrison’s address at the National Press Club today, Mr Albanese said “it would be good if the PM could tighten the right purse strings … because what we’ve seen as jobs go to companies that actually are doing extremely well that have done so well and had a lift in their profits have given massive bonuses to their executives.”
“We’re arguing for increased investment in social housing for example, households know that from time to time you have to go into debt that most people, certainly myself, still have a large mortgage and have to borrow in order to advance your position.”
“This government, don’t have a major infrastructure project, they don’t have a major economic reform, they won’t have any legacy from this trillion dollars of debt.”
READ MORE: Parties start the year locked in a dead heat
Erin Lyons 8.10am: States scramble to shut out WA after positive case
More than two million residents in Western Australians will wake on Monday to the start of a five-day lockdown, after the state’s 10-month coronavirus-free streak came to an end.
A security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel has tested positive to COVID-19 – believed to be the highly contagious UK strain.
WA Premier Mark McGowan made the shock announcement that Perth, the Peel region and South West regions would be forced into a strict five-day lockdown from 6pm Sunday.
The news plunged the city into lockdown, and other state leaders have been quick to react. Read more here
— NCA NewsWire
Nicholas Jensen 7.55am: NSW Deputy Premier attacks border closure
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has described Western Australia’s lockdown and border closure as “pointless” after the state recorded a positive COVID-19 case.
Mr Barilaro said he sympathised with citizens going into lockdown but that “WA’s hard border lockdown has proved pointless”.
“I recommend the WA Premier considers adopting the NSW strategy to manage this virus — because today WA has learnt first-hand an elimination strategy is unrealistic,” he tweeted on Sunday evening.
“NSW has been managing the COVID risk brought by international travellers for more than 12 months.”
NSW Health have instructed travellers coming from Western Australia to follow the same stay-at-home rules they would be required to observe in their own state.
READ MORE: WA miners get lockdown exception
Nicholas Jensen 7.45am: AstraZeneca to increase vaccine supply
AstraZeneca will deliver 30 per cent more vaccine doses to the EU than it pledged last week, European Commission chief Ursular von der Leyen has confirmed.
The company will send 9 million additional doses and “will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled”, Ms Von der Leyen said in a tweet after days of tension between the EU bloc and the drugs company.
The new doses mark an increase of 30 per cent on the previous order.
It comes after a row between the EU and AstraZeneca over a major shortfall in production.
Nicholas Jensen 7.30am: Russia detains thousands in Navalny protest
Russian Police have detained more than 4400 people across the country and blocked off the centre of Moscow in a massive clampdown on protests demanding the release of jailed Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny.
Thousands of protesters have defied government warnings against staging rallies from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg in a second weekend of mass demonstrations over the arrest of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent.
Navalny was detained at a Moscow airport in mid-January after flying back to Russia from Germany where he was recovering from an August poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.
The anti-corruption campaigner is being held in a Moscow detention centre and faces years of jail time in several different criminal cases despite calls from Western governments for his release.
Russian authorities have locked down the centre of the capital, with hundreds of police lining the streets.
Protesters had hoped to gather outside the headquarters of the FSB security service, but were forced to break into groups across the city as organisers made last-minute changes in locations.
READ MORE: Kremlin accused of ‘poison squad’
Nicholas Jensen 7.15am: Macron says ‘non’ to third lockdown
French President Emmanuel Macron has decided not to impose a third national lockdown, going against the advice of his most senior scientific advisers.
Mr Macron chose to tighten existing restrictions on travel and shopping at a cabinet meeting on Friday after a week in which his government appeared to be preparing for a new restrictions.
The decision will keep France on a different path to its biggest neighbours Britain and Germany at a time when the more contagious UK variant is spreading across Europe.
“Everything suggests that a new wave could occur because of the variant, but perhaps we can avoid it thanks to the measures that we decided early and that the French people are respecting,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told French media on Sunday.
Unlike other countries, he said, the number of new COVID-19 cases have barely increased.
The French government put in place a strict night-time curfew after a second lockdown ended in December, while deaths are less than a quarter of the number in Britain or Germany.
Mr Macron was reported to have been concerned about the impact of another lockdown on a country struggling with the mental health consequences of nearly a year of restrictions, as well as a deep recession.
However, by going against health minister Mr Veran and others on his COVID-19 council, Mr Macron is taking personal responsibility for a decision with potential to backfire.
READ MORE: Boris reads riot act to the EU
Nicholas Jensen 7am: Captain Tom Moore hospitalised with Covid
Captain Sir Tom Moore, the 100-year-old Briton who raised almost £33m for the NHS, was taken to Bedford Hospital after problems breathing, his daughter said on Twitter.
She said Sir Tom was being treated for pneumonia over the past few weeks and tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
A spokeswoman for the family said Sir Tom had not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine due to the medication he was on for pneumonia. He has not been moved to intensive care.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “You’ve inspired the whole nation, and I know we are all wishing you a full recovery.”
The Army veteran came to prominence by walking 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday during the first national lockdown.
He was knighted by the Queen in July.
READ MORE: Federal MPs face Canberra quarantine
Nicholas Jensen 6.45am: WHO visits China in hunt for clues
WHO experts have visited the market in central China that was linked to the first known COVID-19 cluster, seeking clues about the outbreak of the pandemic as a number of nations tighten restrictions.
A WHO team visited the Huanan food market in Wuhan as part of its fieldwork in a politically sensitive assignment to investigate the origins of the pandemic.
Their visit is being tightly controlled and the WHO has already lowered expectations of discovering the source of the virus, which is known to have infected more than 102 million people so far with over 2.2 million deaths.
The experts did not take any questions from journalists as they visited the market.
Chinese authorities have pushed a positive narrative of decisive and swift action against the virus.
But it has faced criticism at home and abroad for its handling of the initial Wuhan outbreak and its lack of transparency.
READ MORE: Auction action heats up
Nicholas Jensen 6.30am: Covid death toll tops 2.2 million
COVID-19 has killed at least 2,219,793 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally compiled by AFP.
At least 102,514,200 cases of coronavirus have been registered, with at least 62,182,600 are now considered recovered.
These figures are based on daily tolls provided by health authorities in each country and exclude later re-evaluations by statistical organisations, as has happened in Russia, Spain and Britain.
Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths are the US with 3,130, followed by Mexico with 1,495 and Brazil with 1,279.
The US is the worst-affected country with 439,536 deaths from 26,075,103 cases.
After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 223,945 deaths from 9,176,975 cases, Mexico with 158,074 deaths from 1,857,230 cases, India with 154,274 deaths from 10,746,183 cases, and the United Kingdom with 105,571 deaths from 3,796,088 cases.
The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Belgium with 182 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Slovenia with 168, the UK 156, the Czech Republic 152 and Italy 146.
Europe has 735,831 deaths from 33,294,313 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 595,569 deaths from 18,857,593 infections, and the United States and Canada 459,451 deaths from 26,849,171 cases.
Asia has reported 240,102 deaths from 15,201,467 cases, the Middle East 97,426 deaths from 4,724,476 cases, Africa 90,469 deaths from 3,555,504 cases, and Oceania 945 deaths from 31,685 cases.
Since the start of the pandemic, the number of tests conducted has increased while testing and reporting techniques have improved, leading to a rise in reported cases.
However the number of diagnosed cases is only a part of the real total number of infections as a significant number of less serious or asymptomatic cases always remain undetected.
READ MORE: Thousands protest in France
Simon Benson 6am: Race tightens between Coalition, Labor
The Coalition and Labor are locked in a dead-heat electoral fight as the major parties prepare for battle over the economic recovery and jobs ahead of a potential federal election later this year.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows the electoral contest tightening over summer as Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese both suffer falls in their approval ratings. Read more here
Victoria Laurie 5.30 am: Lone case puts WA on edge
The movements of the guard at the centre of Western Australia’s sudden five-day lockdown are alarming enough to make the contact tracers and pandemic experts’ heads spin.
As shops and petrol stations were inundated with panic buyers within minutes of word leaking out, the hapless security guard in his 20s could only look forward to two things — intense ongoing questioning by contact tracers and a genomic test that will tell him in a day or two whether he has the highly infectious UK strain of COVID-19.
When the lockdown began at dusk at the end of a long hot Sunday across the state’s southwest, the hotel quarantine worker at the centre of WA’s first community-based case in 10 months was already in quarantine, but not before he may have unwittingly infected people in 16 locations at all points of the Perth compass.
The man shares a house with three others in the inner-city suburb of Maylands, less than 5km east of the CBD, and had spent a busy few days in the lead-up to Australia Day.
He had ferried passengers around town in his part-time job as a ride-share driver, picking up his last passengers on January 22.
Meanwhile, he had a second job as a registered security guard at one of Perth’s designated quarantine hotels. As part of a weekly PCR testing regime, he had returned several negative tests, including his last one on January 23.
Paul Garvey 5am: Infected guard sparks fresh fear
Two million West Australians have been plunged into five days of hard lockdown after a security guard at a Perth quarantine hotel spent days in the community after likely being infected with the highly contagious UK variant of the coronavirus.
Premier Mark McGowan said the state was taking “dramatic action immediately’’ to crush the virus, but the snap lockdown sparked an angry backlash from a major business group and threatened to disrupt fly-in fly-out rosters for the state’s mining industry. Read more here
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