Coronavirus Australia Live Updates: Scott Morrison to push for WHO to be given ‘weapons inspector powers'
Scott Morrison will push for the World Health Organisation to be allowed to enter a country without invitation to trace the source of pandemic outbreaks.
- PM’s push to give WHO new powers
- PM and Trump talk about WHO
- Company tax cuts in government sights
- NSW school plan ‘near impossible’
- Frydenberg lashes China over criticism
- UK to fast-track two vaccines
- Buyers queue for Virgin
Welcome to The Australian’s live coverage of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Scott Morrison will push for the World Health Organisation to be allowed to enter a country without invitation to trace the source of pandemic outbreaks. The PM and Donald Trump have also spoken about improving the WHO and boosting global transparency on the origins of COVID-19. Three more people have died in NSW which reported five new cases overnight while Queensland recorded a second day of no new positive infections and Victoria just two.
Matthew Denholm 9.20pm Four new cases in Tasmanian outbreak
Tasmania has confirmed four new cases of coronavirus amid serious outbreak in the state’s northwest.
“This brings the state’s total to 205,” Public Health Director Mark Veitch said on Wednesday night. “All (the new) cases are from the northwest. Three are women and one is a man.
“One is in their 20s, one is in their 30s, one is in their 40s and one is in their 50s.
Two of the cases are healthcare workers who have worked at either the North West Regional Hospital or the North West Private Hospital.
“Another case is a close contact of a confirmed case. The other case remains under investigation,” Dr Veitch said.
More than half of Tasmania’s coronavirus cases — 118 — are associated with the northwest outbreak, which is focused on the two Burnie hospitals.
“A concerted effort is being made to identify any further cases of coronavirus in the northwest,” Dr Veitch said. “Anyone who lives in the northwest who currently, or in the last few days has had respiratory symptoms like a cough, sore throat, runny nose, or fever should arrange testing through the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738 or their GP.”
READ MORE: Life’s golden now, but pets’ crisis starts soon
Richard Ferguson 6.25pm Albanese backs probe powers for WHO
Anthony Albanese has backed Scott Morrison’s proposal to give the World Health Organisation “weapon inspector”-style powers to go into countries uninvited and investigate pandemic outbreaks.
The Opposition Leader also said he hoped the Prime Minister raised objections to Washington’s defunding of WHO when he spoke to US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
“It’s the only structure that could possibly get to the bottom of this … I support Scott Morrison’s call for the World Health Organisation to be able to go in, unfettered. It should have access to any records that it wishes to see,” he told ABC News.
“I wonder whether Scott Morrison raised this with Donald Trump … It’s not in the world’s interests to undermine the WorldHealth Organisation.”
READ MORE: Step this way: easy walking workouts for lockdown
Richard Ferguson 4.15pm: Albanese blasts fuel reserves expansion plan
Anthony Albanese blasted the US fuel plan on Wednesday and said it would not meet Australia’s obligations under the International Energy Agreement.
“It is not in line with our initial obligations because it is in the United States. The point of the international agreement is that Australia should have here 90 days’ worth of liquid reserves,” he told ABC News.
“The United States isn’t New Zealand. I mean, it’s not next-door.
“If there’s the sort of international conflict or issues that provide disruption to sea lanes, that may well occur at some stage in the future, then that is why nation states need to have this fuel capacity. It’s an issue of national security.”
READ MORE: Australian fuel reserves to be expanded amid price plunge
Elias Visontay 4.05pm: Focus groups indicate support for tracing app
Government-conducted focus groups indicate “there is quite a lot of support” for the planned coronavirus contact tracing app, as health officials and politicians continue spruiking the containment measure.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly reiterated the government’s plea with citizens to download the app at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, reminding Australians “it will allow us much more leeway to change the social distancing measures” if uptake reaches the 40 per cent figure authorities are hoping for.
Dr Kelly said the app would become “a very useful tool” to help health authorities tracking down contacts of confirm coronavirus patients “much more rapidly”.
“It’s important because if we can really get on top of that, it will allow us much more leeway to change the social distancing measures, which I’m sure we all want to see happen,” he said.
“My pitch to the Australian people is, please consider this. It’s completely voluntary. I know that some people won’t take it up and that’s their decision.”
He said the government had conducted focus groups and surveys as part of research into the app, and that it “remains to be seen” if 40 per cent of Australians will download the app.
“Our research so far is it appears there is quite a lot of support for this app, as it is seen to be, and it is only about collecting that information about where you have been in contact with someone with the app has a diagnosis of COVID-19. It is only going to be used by state or local public health officials. It will not be available to anybody else. After 21 days, it’s gone.”
READ MORE: Tracing app is not Big Brother
Brent Read 3.55pm: Acting NRL chief outlines focus during shutdown
Acting NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has written to clubs bosses to inform them that his immediate focus is on restarting the premiership and future-proofing the game by resolving talks with the broadcasters.
In his first act as NRL boss since the resignation of Todd Greenberg on Monday, Abdo sent an email titled “short-term priorities” to club chief executives. Abdo said he and ARL Commission Peter V’landys were in talks with the Nine Network and Foxtel aimed at finalising the season structure and future-proofing the game.
READ MORE: Abdo tackles restart and broadcasters as priorities
Greg Brown 3.50pm: Turnbull’s coronavirus advice to Morrison
Malcolm Turnbull has urged Scott Morrison to consider clamping down on property and superannuation tax concessions as part of wide-ranging economic reform to aid the recovery of the coronavirus pandemic.
The former prime minister said “extraordinary” tax reform measures should be pursued when he was asked whether the government should revisit tackling concessions in negative gearing, superannuation and dividend imputation.
“This is a crisis, right. It was Rahm Emanuel the (former) mayor of Chicago, former Obama chief of staff, who said, ‘You should never waste a crisis’. Well, this is a crisis of unprecedented scale,” Mr Turnbull said in a broadcast organised by the National Press Club to coincide the release of his memoir A Bigger Picture.
READ MORE: Malcolm Turnbull’s coronavirus advice to Scott Morrison
Mackenzie Scott 3.40pm: Coronavirus forces buyers to sit on the sidelines
New home sales fell by almost a quarter through March as buyers choose to wait out the coronavirus pandemic.
Data released on Wednesday by the Housing Industry Association shows the momentum that had been growing in the home building sector was suddenly halted through March, causing sales to fall 23.2 per cent month-on-month.
READ MORE: New home sales fall in March
Chris Griffith 3.33pm: Facebook still “superspreads” COVID-19 falsehoods
Facebook has been outed as a “superspreader” of COVID-19 misinformation despite its attestations it is doing the right thing.
NewsGuard, which supplies a plug-in for classifying the reliability of news sites, says it has identified 15 Facebook Pages with huge Facebook audiences that are peddling false and dangerous information to more than 18 million users.
READ MORE: Facebook still “superspreads” COVID-19 falsehoods
Eli Greenblat 3.30pm: Myer extends store shutdowns as coronavirus restrictions persist
Myer, the nation’s biggest department store chain, will keep its stores closed until at least May 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving many of its 10,000 staff in limbo as the retail sector waits out the health crisis.
Myer closed its stores late last month for an initial period of four weeks, setting a provisional reopening date of April 27.
However as government-ordered coronavirus restrictions remain in place, retailers are having to extend their closure periods.
READ MORE: Myer extends store shutdowns as coronavirus restrictions persist
Angelica Snowden 3.10pm: Racism during pandemic survey’s shocking results
A survey launched for Australians to report anti-Asian abuse amid the coronavirus pandemic has collected over 250 responses in a matter of weeks.
The survey is being spearheaded by the Asian Australian Alliance National Convener Erin Chew with the support of Per Capita think tank research fellow Osmond Chiu.
Ms Chew said most of the respondents, 165 of them, are female and the majority of incidents occur in a public area, on a street.
“It’s usually racial slurs,” she said.
“They have been called coronavirus or told to go back to China.”
The second most common place these attacks happen is the supermarket.
“They have either been coughed at, spat at or been verbally discriminated against,” she said.
According to the survey that launched on April 1, the majority of cases have been reported in NSW followed by Victoria.
Over 60 per cent of the respondents said they experienced name calling or had racial slurs directed at them.
A small percentage - about 13 per cent - said they experienced physical intimidation, like being shoved or pushed.
Ms Chew said the survey is a way for people who are experiencing racism to share their stories and know that they are not alone.
The survey is completely voluntary and has been circulated on social media, including by Labor MP Andrew Giles.
The #COVIDー19 Racism Incident Report the Asian Australian Alliance launched w/ @redrabbleroz + partners @democracycolour + @DiversityArtsAu now has translations for Chinese (Tradi + simp) + Korean. Pls share this important project. #UnityOverFear https://t.co/6XK3hpceEk pic.twitter.com/5CVb5CkmTS
— ThisAsianWomanSays (@echewy) April 21, 2020
The news comes after Scott Morrison called for racist attacks towards Asian-Australians to stop at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“I deplore that sort of behaviour against any Australian regardless of their ethnicity or their religion or whatever it happens to be,” he said.
“And I think that is the view of all Australians. So we have to call that sort of thing up. It’s not on.”
READ MORE: Scott Morrison slams racism
Victoria Laurie 3.00pm: No new cases reported in WA
Western Australia has reported no new overnight cases of COVID-19, for the second time in four days. It means that only two cases have been reported in that period.
The total number of cases remains at 546, but the number of people with an active coronavirus infection has dropped from 100 to 88 overnight.
Regional WA has only 8 active cases, three in the Goldfields region and four in the Kimberley.
There are still around 640 people in enforced isolation in Perth hotels, down from over 2000.
Public and private hospitals will resume a quarter of their usual elective surgery activity from next Tuesday. The impact of elective surgery will be reviewed after three weeks to ensure it does not compromise the state’s ability to deal with any potential increase in COVID-19 cases.
READ MORE: What went wrong for Singapore?
Elias Visontay 2.40pm: Fuel reserves expanded amid price plunge
The government will expand Australia’s local fuel storage capacity, announcing it is taking advantage of historically low fuel prices by amassing a strategic fuel reserve overseas to ultimately ship back to Australia.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the government will spend $94m on the strategic fuel reserve, and that the fuel will be initially stored in the US until Australia has developed further capacity to store its reserves.
The Australian understands the government will purchase the crude oil from the private sector, with details currently commercial-in-confidence.
READ MORE: Australian fuel reserves to be expanded amid price plunge
Simon Benson 2.29pm: PM’s push to give WHO new powers
Australia will push for the World Health Organisation to be given the powers of an international “weapons inspector” that would be mandated to enter a country without invitation to trace the source of outbreaks in any future pandemics.
It is believed that Scott Morrison raised the idea with world leaders over the past several days while seeking a consensus for reform of the organisation be given priority and should not wait for any review or investigation into COVID-19 pandemic which could take as long as five years.
The Prime Minister has been critical of the WHO’s role in failing to stop the spread of coronavirus and its reluctance to take a tough enough stand of wet markets, where the virius is believed to have originated from.
READ MORE: Why I won’t be signing up to the PM’s contact-tracing app
Victoria Laurie 2.07pm: Contact-tracing winds down in WA
Contact tracing in Western Australia is winding down as new COVID-19 cases drop to single figures or zero.
Over 200 public health workers across the state have been involved in tracing every person with close contact, with some infected individuals – especially air travellers – having come in contact with as many as 50 people.
Contact tracing is undertaken to find people considered at risk of catching COVID-19 because they had 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with a known carrier, or spent two hours or more in the same enclosed space.
Dr Ben Scalley, who heads the contact tracing team within the WA Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, says the statewide network of 200 investigators was built up over three months as cases escalated.
However, the state’s total appears to be static at 546, with only 88 of those cases with still active infection.
He says the number of people infected by a COVID-19 patient has reduced to less than one in Western Australia.
“If they are passing the virus on to less than one person, the cases will decline. If it’s above one, they will continue to climb.”
Dr Scalley says breaking the chains of transmission has been largely due to cooperation by contacted individuals.
“West Australians have been great. The vast majority of people have been very compliant, and even willingly have stopped work and gone home to quarantine for 14 days.”
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Richard Ferguson 1.31pm: PM raises virus review with Macron, Merkel
Scott Morrison has raised an independent global review into the Chinese origins of coronavirus with Europe’s top two leaders last night - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Australian understands the Prime Minister and Dr Merkel also discussed the importance of not rushing the relaxation of social distancing restrictions and the importance of a trade-led global economic recovery.
Mr Morrison and Mr Macron talked about building a better global framework to tackle any future health pandemics and the work Australia and France do in the Pacific together.
This morning, Mr Morrison also spoke to US President Donald Trump about the need for transparency from China about its handling of the virus and the need to improve the World Health Organisation.
READ MORE: ‘Why I won’t be signing up to the PM’s app’
Elias Visontay 1.24pm: Lib senator hits back at ‘very sad’ super accusation
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has hit back at opposition assistant treasury spokesman Stephen Jones for “working for vested interests” after the Labor MP accused him of distributing “irresponsible” financial advice about the government’s changes to superannuation access that “borders on illegal”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Jones indicated he would be lodging a formal complaint about Senator Bragg’s email communications to the public promoting the government’s early super access scheme, “circulating material to their electors and on their mailing list encouraging people who on the face of it may not be entitled to access this scheme to do exactly that”.
Senator Bragg told The Australian he did not believe he had done anything illegal, and that Mr Jones’ accusation was “very sad”.
“I can communicate with my constituents all the time and communicating on rules which the parliament has enacted is what parliament members do for their constituents.
“The superannuation scheme is notoriously opaque, so my office is already assisting constituents in this process. Thats the role of a member of parliament, to assist the community to engage in complicated schemes like superannuation.”
Senator Bragg also responded to an accusation of Mr Jones’ that he has “been running a campaign against superannuation”, declaring he is “working for Australians”.
“Obviously Mr Jones would rather protect the interests of unions and super funds than help Australians get through this crisis. Labor’s talking points on super are written by the industry funds, and they really should think for themselves and help Australians get through this pandemic.
“It is actually their money, the money of the workers. This is the workers’ money, and it doesn’t belong to vested interests, it belongs to the workers.”
“Mr Jones is working for vested interests. I am working for Australians...I’m clear about who I represent, it’s about trying to get the best deal for Australians,” Senator Bragg said.
READ MORE: Don’t bank on a quick recovery
Nicola Berkovic 1.17pm: Key legal documents to be signed over video
The signing of key legal documents such as wills, powers of attorney and statutory declarations will now be able to be witnessed in NSW using video technology such as FaceTime, Skype and Zoom.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman announced new temporary regulations on Wednesday, which dramatically relax the strict rules that ordinarily apply to witnessing important legal documents. NSW has become the first state to relax the requirements due to the pandemic.
Mr Speakman said social distancing requirements had made it difficult for many people to get documents witnessed in person.
“Our first priority is always the safety and wellbeing of NSW residents, which is why we are changing the way these documents can be witnessed while the pandemic endures,” Mr Speakman said.
“Under the new regulation, a witness must see a person signing the document in real time to confirm the signature is legitimate, but now they can do so using video-conferencing technology.”
The new regulation will also apply to deeds, agreements, affidavits, enduring guardianship agreements and enduring powers of attorney.
The Australian has previously revealed how the strict rules for witnessing the signing of legal documents was creating problems for wills and estate lawyers, despite a boom in people trying to get their affairs in order.
READ MORE: What went wrong for Singapore?
Angelica Snowden 1.07pm: Government help for virus-stricken aged care home
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the federal government will insist Newmarch House accept support, including additional staff, to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak at the aged care facility in Sydney’s west.
“I have instructed that the federal government step in and we will be offering support,” Mr Hunt said.
“There will be no ifs or buts about it,” he said.
“We will insist that support is accepted, that the provision of extra staff is accepted.”
Mr Hunt said the Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck was overseeing the process.
He said that Newmarch House was working with NSW Health to ensure the facility is adequately staffed.
So far three residents have died after contracting COVID-19 at the aged care facility and there are another 41 cases.
Earlier today Anglicare chief Grant Millard said the facility near Penrith was “scratching around” to have an adequate number of staff on site.
READ MORE: Death toll mounts at stricken nursing home
Yoni Bashan 12.57pm: Ruby patients ‘had heart, nerve issues’
The senior doctor on-board the Ruby Princess cruise liner has told a NSW Special Commission of Inquiry that two unwell passengers transferred off the ship in an ambulance had a heart condition and nerve damage, but no clear and obvious signs of COVID-19.
Dr Ilse Von Watzdorf told the first day of the inquiry, chaired by commissioner Bret Walker SC, that she had been woken up around 2am as the ship pulled into Sydney Harbour to have a conversation with Port Authority of NSW officials about the condition of unwell passengers on-board.
“They asked about the medical disembarkation and I think the words they used was that they were worried it was a bogus call … and I said we have two patients that needed to be medically disembarked. They wanted to know what was wrong with them.”
Asked by counsel assisting the commission, Richard Beasley SC, why she told NSW Vehicle Traffic Services that the patients who required an ambulance were being disembarked for a heart condition and a nerve condition, rather than upper respiratory tract infections, Dr Von Watzdorf said the latter infections would not ordinarily require an ambulance transfer.
Matthew Denholm 12.13pm: Payments for temporary visa holders in Tasmania
Tasmania has rebuffed the Morrison government on key coronavirus policies, announcing its own package to help temporary visa holders, while retaining a ban on most visits to aged care homes.
Premier Peter Gutwein on Wednesday said the federal government was wrong to suggest temporary visa holders could simply “go home”, announcing a $3m in state support after failing to persuade Canberra to act.
The state’s Public Health Director, Mark Veitch, also rejected the Prime Minister’s call for multiple daily visits to be allowed to elderly residents of aged care homes, saying the state’s ban on most visits would remain for the time being.
Mr Gutwein said he had raised the plight of foreign workers who had lost their jobs with the federal government to no avail and had decided to step in.
“There are a significant number of temporary visa holders in Tasmania who have lost their jobs due to the restrictions that have been put in place to ensure that we can protect public health,” he said.
“In many cases, they are experiencing hardship and income loss….Many are students, many work in the fruit picking industry, many of them are skilled workers that work in our hospitality industry and … health.
Supporting people who had contributed to the state’s economy in their “hour of need” was only “fair and reasonable” and the package would provide them $250 in immediate relief, or $1,000 for families.
READ MORE: US second wave ‘even more dire’
Patrick Commins 12.01pm: Record retail surge as virus shutdowns loomed
Hoarding of groceries like toilet paper, rice and pasta drove the biggest ever monthly jump in retail spending in March, ABS data shows.
The preliminary reading of turnover by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, measured on a seasonally adjusted basis, “indicate unprecedented demand in the food retailing industry, with strong sales across supermarkets, liquor retailing and other specialised food,” the report said.
Spending in supermarkets surged 22 per cent.
Sales of toilet paper, tissues, pasta, flour and rice doubled versus the previous month. Monthly turnover for canned food, medicinal products and cleaning goods increased by more than 50 per cent, the data, in original terms, showed.
Total turnover lifted $2.2bn to over $30bn in the month.
READ MORE: Tax reform cure for virus fever, says RBA
Richard Ferguson 11.35am: Morrison, Trump speak about virus origins
Scott Morrison and US President Donald Trump spoke on Wednesday morning about improving the World Health Organisation and boosting global transparency on the origins of COVID-19.
The Australian understands the Prime Minister and US President also discussed the need to restart the two nations’ respective economies.
Mr Morrison’s call with Mr Trump after he launched a diplomatic push for an independent global review of the Chinese origins of coronavirus.
The pair also spoke about the importance of supporting regional economies in the Pacific and South-East Asia.
Mr Morrison raised a global COVID-19 investigation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Tuesday.
READ MORE: PM, Payne lobby for review of Chinese behaviour
Rachel Baxendale 11.25am: Victoria confirms just two new cases overnight
Victoria has reported just two new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed.
The cases bring the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 1336 — the same as Tuesday’s total - after two cases were added to interstate totals.
There are 29 Victorians in hospital with COVID-19, including 12 in intensive care.
More than 88,000 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Victoria.
READ MORE: Graham Richardson writes — Honour the real heroes of this battle
Ben Mackay 11.15am: NZ toll rises to 13 with death of elderly woman
New Zealand’s coronavirus toll is now at 13 after the death of an elderly woman in the South Island. The woman, aged in her 80s, is the eighth person linked to the Rosewood rest home in Christchurch to die from the virus. Health officials announced just six fresh cases overnight, for a nationwide tally of 1451 cases. — AAP
READ MORE: Tracing App is not big brother
Remy Varga 11am: Victoria Police issue a further 95 fines
Youths playing video games, an unlicensed driver and his weapon wielding passenger and three people planning to take drugs together are among the latest social distancing fines issued by Victoria Police.
A Victoria Police spokesman said 95 fines had been issued in the past 24-hours with 1043 spot checks conducted at homes, businesses and non-essential services.
Victorians caught breaching the public health directive included three people who booked short term accommodation to take drugs, a group of youths leaving a house after a night of video games and unlicensed driver in Box Hill whose passenger had a weapon.
READ MORE: Singapore’s plan was working. What went wrong?
Jason Gagliardi 10.40am: Editor’s letter to Xi: your power is crumbling
The editor-in-chief of German mass-circulation tabloid BILD has accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of “endangering the world” in a scathing response to an open letter from the Chinese Embassy in Berlin.
“Dear President Xi,” Julian Reichelt writes, “Your embassy in Berlin has addressed me in an open letter because we asked in our newspaper BILD whether China should pay for the massive economic damage the corona virus is inflicting worldwide.
“Let me respond:
1. You rule by surveillance. You wouldn’t be president without surveillance. You monitor everything, every citizen, but you refuse to monitor the diseased wet markets in your country. You shut down every newspaper and website that is critical of your rule, but not the stalls where bat soup is sold.
2. Surveillance is a denial of freedom. And a nation that is not free, is not creative. A nation that is not innovative, does not invent anything. This is why you have made your country the world champion in intellectual property theft.
China‘s embassy in Berlin wrote me an open letter because they weren‘t too happy with our Corona coverage. I responded.
— Julian Reichelt (@jreichelt) April 18, 2020
Full version: https://t.co/BH1muj2hnh pic.twitter.com/Q62H2G9ZqA
3. You, your government and your scientists had to know long ago that Corona is highly infectious, but you left the world in the dark about it. Your top experts didn’t respond when Western researchers asked to know what was going on in Wuhan.
4. The Washington Post reports that your laboratories in Wuhan have been researching corona viruses in bats, but without maintaining the highest safety standards. Why are your toxic laboratories not as secure as your prisons for political prisoners?
5. In your country, your people are whispering about you. Your power is crumbling. Before Corona, China was known as a surveillance state. Now, China is known as a surveillance state that infected the world with a deadly disease.”
READ MORE: Julian Reichelt’s full letter to Xi Jinping
Cameron Stewart 10.25am: US disease agency warns of deadly second wave
The head of America’s leading disease control agency has warned that the coronavirus could come back in a second wave with even more dire consequences later this year because it would coincide with the flu season.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” the Centre For Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield said. “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he said.
He said two simultaneous respiratory outbreaks would put unprecedented strain on the nation’s already stretched healthcare system.
Hi comments came after another surge in deaths in the US with more than 2500 people dying in a 24-hour period taking the total US death toll to more than 45,000 with more than 800,000 infections.
READ Cameron Stewart’s full story here
ELIAS VISONTAY 10.15am: Labor want budget numbers before tax cut support
Opposition assistant treasury spokesman Stephen Jones has told the government to produce updated budget numbers before Labor will support any tax cuts. Mr Jones’ comments come after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg opened the door to company tax cuts, a response to Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe’s calls for tax and industrial relations reform. to help the economy recover from the impact of coronavirus.
“If the government wants us to treat seriously any propositions for tax reform, for tax cuts, then they’re going to have to come clean on the underlying budget numbers,” Mr Jones told Sky News. “We’ve been calling for some time now for there to be an update of the budget numbers. The government could use the forthcoming sitting in parliament due to be called on in a couple of weeks time to update the parliament, the opposition and the people of Australia on what the underlying budget numbers are.
“There’s two sides to a budget, if we’re going to talk about tax cuts we’ve got to understand that they’re affordable, and we’ve got to see what the underlying revenue is looking like and what the underlying outgoings are going to be as well.
“The Reserve Bank governor was quite quite clear yesterday that under any of the scenarios that he was considering we were going to see persistently high unemployment...that is of course a drag on budget revenue as well so we need to see the whole picture,” Mr Jones said.
READ MORE: Adam Creighton writes — RBS shy on forecasts, fiscal strategy
Craig Johnstone 10.10am: Unexpected pandemic windfall for Queensland MPs
Queensland state MPs are in for an unexpected windfall from the coronavirus pandemic after a government tribunal decided they could carry over a large chunk of their electorate allowance to spend in the lead-up to the 31 October state poll.
The decision by the Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal means that MPs will be able to spend a large part of their allowances for this financial year closer to the election.
The state’s politicians have access to an electoral and communication allowance of up to $76,400 each year to run their electorate offices. However, most electorate offices have been closed as part of the travel and other restrictions introduced to limit the spread of the virus.
The tribunal has accepted advice from Clerk of the Queensland parliament Neil Laurie that much of the allowance unspent due to the lockdown be carried over into next financial year.
“The Tribunal has decided to support changes to allow Members to retain up to 40 per cent of the total ECA paid for the 2019-20 financial year (excluding any reductions or carryovers from previous years) that is unexpended at 30 June 2020,” the tribunal revealed in a statement.
“This unexpended allowance is to be carried over for use by Members in the period 1 July to 30 October 2020.”
READ MORE: ‘Still too early’ for regions to relax restrictions
ELIAS VISONTAY 9.55am: Labor attacks Lib for ‘illegal’ super advice
Opposition assistant treasury spokesman Stephen Jones has accused Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg of distributing “irresponsible” financial advice that “borders on illegal” which encourages Australians to take up early access of their superannuation.
Mr Jones indicated he will be lodging a formal complaint about Senator Bragg’s email communications to the public promoting the government’s early super access scheme, saying “I’ll be raising the issue through formal channels”.
Speaking on the scheme, Mr Jones said the government’s expectations of how many Australians would access the scheme was “woefully inadequate” and that the actual number would far exceed the figure budgeted for.
This appears to be the material in question - not sure the content stands up to the accusations made by the Shadow Assistant Treasurer pic.twitter.com/x7WiBVm5PK
— Thomas O'Brien (@TJ__OBrien) April 21, 2020
“Certain Liberal Party members are circulating material to their electors and on their mailing list encouraging people who on the face of it may not be entitled to access this scheme to do exactly that,” Mr Jones told Sky News on Wednesday. “It’s no secret that Senator Andrew Bragg has been running a campaign against superannuation, the industry that he once earned thousands of dollars out of himself as a paid advocate. He’s now running a one man campaign against the industry and I’ve seen documents that he has circulated under his letterhead encouraging Australians to access the scheme, irrespective and without any information about the eligibility criteria.
“Frankly this is irresponsible, it borders on illegal, because there are as you know legal requirements on people giving financial advice. We’d call on the Senator (Bragg), we’d call on all others who are acting irresponsibly and putting out this sort of advice to just check themselves a bit.
Senator Bragg responded to the interview on Twitter, saying “we all know Mr Jones would rather save the super funds than save Australia”.
Responding to the allegation he is “working for vested interests”, Mr Jones told The Australian: “I make no apology for fighting for the retirement savings and better retirement outcomes for hard working Australians. The only thing I’m invested in is protecting the integrity of our world class superannuation system from wreckers on the Liberal party backbench who would like to see it dismantled ”.
“I have never received a dime from the superannuation industry. I don’t know if Andrew Bragg can say the same. If Mr Bragg is looking to accuse anyone of using this crisis as an opportunity to peddle out of touch ideological agendas, Mr Bragg should grab a mirror,” Mr Jones said.
READ MORE: James Kirby writes — Don’t surrender on super
Adeshola Ore 9.50am: Bondi Beach to reopen from next week
Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach will be opened to swimmers and surfers from next week, following more than a month of closure.
On Tuesday evening, Waverley Council voted to partially reopen Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches. They will be closed on the weekends and lounging on the beach will remain banned.
Nearby Coogee, Maroubra and Clovelly have also re-opened for exercise only.
Waverley Council voted for the fences to remain in place with “Surfn Go and Swim n Go’’ entrances and exits managed by council rangers. Walking, running, gathering and sunbathing on the sand will not be permitted.
Last month, Waverley Council closed Bondi Beach after crowds of people flouted social distancing measures. Northern Beaches and Randwick councils also adopted similar measures.
READ MORE: Seal be right, mate
Robert Gottliebsen 9.25am: Why RBA’s recovery may not happen
The latest falls in global and Australian sharemarkets show we are starting to understand the deeper implications of the big fall in oil prices. The oil price slump is merely symptom of a glut of just about every non-food item you can think of, apart medical equipment, as well as rapidly falling inflation.
The Australian population is in deep shock.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says we are facing the biggest fall since the depression. While that’s true, as I pointed out on Friday, the speed of this decline has no parallel since Federation.
Lowe believes that if restrictions are eased we could expect the economy to begin its bounce-back in the September quarter and for that bounce-back to strengthen from there.
“If this is how things play out, the economy could be expected to grow very strongly next year, with GDP growth of perhaps 6–7 per cent, after a fall of around 6 per cent this year”, Lowe says.
I hope you were right Philip, but I fear you are wrong. Falls of this magnitude don’t snap back and take a long time to recover.
READ Robert’s full opinion piece here.
Craig Johnstone 9.10am: Qld records second day of no new cases
Queensland has recorded another day with no new cases of COVID-19 but authorities have cautioned that residents need to keep practising social distancing and restrictions on movements.
Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk has joined Prime Minister Scott Morrison in blasting aged care operators for preventing families from visiting loved ones at nursing homes and other facilities.
She said there were reports of some homes keeping residents in their rooms despite them being well.
Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said the only cases of transmission recorded in nursing homes involved residents or staff, not visitors.
Despite encouraging families to visit their relatives in nursing homes, both the premier and Dr Young insisted that other restrictions on movements needed to remain in place.
“These restrictions are onerous and I don’t underestimate what it means for families to follow these restrictions,” Dr Young said.
READ MORE: Paul Kelly writes: Uncertainty as Lowe paints grim picture
Angelica Snowden 9.00am: ANZACs appreciated ‘more than ever’
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says although this year’s Anzac Day will be different to any other due to the coronavirus pandemic, “more than ever” members of the community will reflect on what the day represents.
“I think more than ever all of us will come to contemplate and appreciate what our Anzacs did in 1915 and what Anzac Day represents,” she said.
“What our defence communities, what our defence personnel, ex-servicemen and women, currently serving men and women, what they’ve done for our state and our nation is outstanding.”
The Premier said a 10.00am NSW service will be live streamed on the Anzac Memorial and RSL Facebook pages on Saturday.
The Dawn Service in Canberra will also be televised.
READ MORE: Bank, phone data to be tapped to enforce local lockdowns
Elias Visontay 8.55am: Virgin restructure complete ‘in months’
The administrator leading Virgin’s administration process hopes to achieve a restructuring of the airline within two to three months.
Vaughan Strawbridge, the Deloitte financial advisory partner in charge of the process, said Virgin was in a very different situation to Ansett - which took several years to wind up - because there are several potential buyers with “a good set of knowledge” of Virgin which gives the restructuring “a massive head start”.
“I think it’s important to distinguish, this is not an Ansett. Ansett was a very different set of circumstances so the two are not comparable,” Mr Strawbridge told ABC Radio National.
“When we look at the timetable, we want to achieve a restructuring of this business within the next two to three months. Now, why can we do that so much quicker?
“We have a group of parties who have been looking at this at this business from an interim funding perspective and also around raising debt in the past. So there’s a lot of people who have got a good set of knowledge around this business, which gives us a massive head start,” he said.
READ MORE: Butterfly effect clips airport wings
Adeshola Ore 8.45am: Virgin’s foreign shareholders ‘haven’t helped’
Michael McCormack has criticised Virgin Australia’s foreign shareholders and founder for failing to provide a lifeline to the airline.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the foreign shareholders had not stepped up to offer financial support to the airline before it was placed into administration.
“They haven’t helped. They haven’t bailed out their own airline, and it should’ve been up to them in the first instance” he told the Today Show.
The CEO of Virgin Australia has revealed he’s trying to find new buyers for their airline and save more than 10,000 Aussie jobs. #9Today pic.twitter.com/bzlIKCjmEI
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 21, 2020
Mr McCormack said despite the lack of foreign support, there was a “clear flight path forward’ for the airline.
“They’ve taken the courageous decision with Paul Scurrah, with the board, to go down voluntary administration.
“We will get the flight path forward for the 10,000 workers and 6,000 suppliers, they’re all Australians, we want as many, if not all of them to come out the other side.”
READ MORE: Virgin may sell ‘in weeks’
Angelica Snowden 8.40am: Virus free Captain Corona sails Ruby away
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the Captain of the Ruby Princess, Giorgio Pomata, is COVID-19 free and will sail the ship out of Port Kembla on Thursday.
“The Captain is fit and will sail the vessel on Thursday,” he said.
“The Commissioner of Border Force has written to Carnival and directed that the Ruby Princess leaves Australian waters from this Thursday.”
The Commissioner said nine of the 57 crew members who disembarked the cruise ship yesterday had already flown to their home countries on chartered flights.
“Yesterday, 57 crew members were escorted off the ship and a number have already flown home,” he said.
“Over the next three days, the balance of that 57 will be repatriated back to their home countries.”
He said a further 18 crew members will fly home today.
The Commissioner said before any member is allowed to leave the ship, Carnival must provide evidence that a chartered flight has been organised.
READ MORE: Death ship crew fly home
Angelica Snowden 8.20am: Three more deaths in NSW, national toll 74
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has confirmed three more people have died in the state after contracting COVID-19.
“The three further deaths relate to a 75-year-old gentleman who passed away in St George Hospital and was a household contact of a known case,” she said.
“An 80-year-old woman, who passed away in Gosford Hospital with pre-existing medical conditions who was part of a Gosford Hospital cluster.
“And a 92-year-old woman who was a resident of the Anglicare Newmarch House at Caddens, and who is the third death in that facility.”
No further COVID-19 cases were reported at the aged care facility.
Dr Chant confirmed that 33 people have now died in the state after they contracted coronavirus.
The national death toll is now at 74.
The three deaths were reported in the 24-hour period to 8pm on April 21.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also announced that five new cases of COVID-19 were reported overnight.
READ MORE: Editorial: Revival road to more dynamic Australia
Richard Ferguson 8.15am: Company tax cuts in government sights
Josh Frydenberg has opened the door to company tax cuts to boost a post-pandemic economy, saying Australia’s corporate tax rates remain much higher than other comparable countries.
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe joined business groups and economists in calling for tax and industrial relations reform. to restart the economy on Tuesday.
When asked about reintroducing the company tax cuts Malcolm Turnbull abandoned in 2018, the Treasurer said on Wednesday that tax reform was in the Morrison government’s sights.
“Our company tax rate is still very high by international standards. At the top rate it is 30 cents in the dollar. Whereas if you go to the United States it is 21 cents in the dollar,” he told Sky News.
“We will look at tax reform as an area of interest because we are always looking for opportunities to cut taxes.”
READ MORE: Tax reform key to virus cure: RBA
David Rogers 7.55am: ASX to open lower as markets hammered
Trade on the Australian share market is likely to be marred after more losses in oil prices, as demand plunges due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At 7am (AEST) the SPI 200 futures contract was down 109 points, or 2.1 per cent, at 5,090.0, following heavy losses overnight on Wall Street.
The cost for a barrel of US oil to be delivered in June plunged 43 per cent to $US11.57 dollars.
A day earlier, oil futures fell below zero for the first time.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index finished Tuesday trade down 131.7 points, or 2.46 per cent, to 5,221.3 points.
The All Ordinaries index ended the day lower by 134.5 points, or 2.45 per cent, to 5,353.0 points.
READ Trading Day blog live here.
Angelica Snowden 7.50am: Berejiklian ‘really pleased’ over school plan
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has defended the staggered return to schools she announced yesterday after NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos described the plan as “near impossible” to implement.
“We’re really pleased with what we’ve put forward. It’s the beginning of kids back to school,” she told The Today Show.
“I know it’s a leap of faith but I’ve said to all the parents, and teachers, we’re so grateful you’ve taken our advice to date and it’s paid off.”
“We want to make sure teachers and parents and students not just are safe, but feel safe in the school environment.†NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian responds to critics of the one day school week. #9atoday pic.twitter.com/zrZioSI8We
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 21, 2020
The Premier, who will provide an update on the crisis at 8.00am AEST, yesterday announced that from May 11 schools should aim to have 25 per cent of their students at school per day and asked every student to attend one day per week.
In response to criticisms of the plan, including how parents manage multiple children who might need to attend school on different days and that students will not be able to social distance in the classroom, the Premier said the Department of Education would provide advice.
“In relation to siblings the department of education has made many helpful suggestions to schools,” she said.
“For example, if you did an alphabetical list and had A to E go on Mondays that means all the siblings could go on the same day.
Other schools might organise it in house colours.”
READ MORE: Local lockdowns to be enforced
Angelica Snowden 7.45am: NSW school plan ‘near impossible’
NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos said return to school measures announced by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday will be “near impossible”.
Mr Gavrielatos said having 25 per cent of students return to school per day presented a “massive” logistical challenge.
“What was announced yesterday by the Premier, a staggered operation of having 25 per cent of kids at school rotating through the school one day at a time, fails to appreciate the massive organisational and timetabling challenges that presents for our schools,” he said on the Today Show.
“In many settings it will be near impossible.”
What we got yesterday from the Premier “fails to appreciate let alone comprehend the massive organisational and timetabling challenges it presents for our schoolsâ€. Federation President @AGavrielatos speaking this morning on @TheTodayShow 📺 👇🼠https://t.co/8Kp8YTkLoa
— Teachers Federation (@TeachersFed) April 21, 2020
Mr Gavrielatos said the Teachers Federation suggested Year 12 and kindergarten students return first, followed by the staggered introduction of other year groups.
“Starting off with one year group in high schools and another year group in primary schools we suggested for some very good reasons - Year 12 and kindergarten made sense,” he said.
“What you would then do is start to pad it out, maybe at Year 6, add Year 7 as the circumstances allow.”
He said the announcement yesterday caused principals and teachers stress over the school holiday period.
“It is contributing significantly to the stress levels of our teachers and principals, who should be enjoying a bit of downtime during the school vacation period, having turned themselves inside out throughout term one,” he said.
“What we needed was a simple, staggered, orderly approach in order to start building up a return to something that resembles normal.”
READ MORE: Too early for regions to relax
Elias Visontay 7.25am: Frydenberg lashes China over ‘unwanted’ criticism
Josh Frydenberg has labelled the Chinese Embassy’s criticism of Peter Dutton “unwanted and unjustified” after the Home Affairs Minister called for greater transparency about the origins of COVID-19.
The Embassy’s condemnation came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison pushed for an independent global review into the origins of the disease.
“I think they’re unwanted and unjustified comments. And what is clear is that we maintain a good relationship at the commercial level with China. They’re our largest trading partner and we want that to continue,” the Treasurer told ABC TV on Wednesday morning.
“We obviously have some differences from time to time on the political and strategic levels. But, like with many countries, we make those points clear. But ultimately Peter Dutton’s role, the Prime Minister’s role, my role, and all our colleagues’ roles, is to defend the Australian national interest, and that’s what we’ll continue to do, and we’ll speak up about it as required.”
Asked if he trusted China, Mr Frydenberg said: “I happily engage with China constructively ...it’s not a question of trusting them.
“Many Australian livelihoods and many Australian jobs rely on those strong trading relationships with China. We don’t want to move away from that,” Mr Frydenberg said.
On Tuesday, a spokesman at China’s embassy in Canberra accused Mr Dutton of parroting the lines of the US on Wednesday.
“Obviously he must have also received some instructions from Washington requiring him to co-operate with the US in its propaganda war against China,” the spokesman said.
“It is well known that recently some people in the US, including high-level officials, have been spreading anti-China ‘information virus’.
“Their aim is to shift blame and deflect attention by smearing China. What they have done is neither moral nor helpful to solve their own problems,” he said.
READ MORE: US accuses China over virus
Adeshola Ore 7.10am: US deaths double in two weeks
In the US, coronavirus cases have doubled in two weeks to over 800,000. The US accounts for a third of the world’s more than 2.5 million cases of COVID-19.
New cases and fatalities are slowing, with fewer than 30,000 reported cases and 2,000 deaths over the past three days. There are nearly 45,000 deaths associated with the virus.
Governors in about half a dozen US states, including Georgia and South Carolina, will push ahead with plans to ease coronavirus restrictions in a bit to restart their economies. It comes despite warnings from medical experts that a premature relaxing of measures could cause a fresh surge in COVID infections. It follows protesters in Michigan and Pennsylvania demanding a rollback of coronavirus orders.
While some states are looking to ease restrictions, New York, the epicentre of the virus, has extended its restrictions of non-essential events through June.
The governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, is due to meet Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss the persistent shortage of testing supplies. New York accounts for almost half the deaths of coronavirus in the US and the most in the world.
Missouri has become the first US state to sue the Chinese government over the country’s handling of coronavirus, saying it led to devastating economic loss in the state. The civil lawsuit alleges negligence and is seeking cash compensation.
Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, has lashed out at Donald Trump, accusing politicians of making “groundless accusations” about the virus.
Speaking at an online Bloomberg event, he defended China’s handling of the virus.
“We are doing our best to have transparency. We are discovering, we are learning. At the same time, we are sharing,” he said.
Cases in China have now dropped to less than 20 a day for the past three days. No new deaths have been reported this week.
In contrast, Singapore, has extended its coronavirus shutdown until early June after a second peak of infections. While the country was praised for containing the spread of the virus, the number of infections have now surpassed, 9,000. The new cases are primarily due to outbreaks in crowded migrant worker dormitories.
READ MORE: US takes first tentative steps back
Angelica Snowden 6.50am: Europe starts to emerge from lockdown
Some European countries are cautiously emerging from confinement, although large gatherings remain out of the question for the foreseeable future.
Spain
The Pamplona bull-running festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people, has been cancelled.
However Spain, which has one of the world’s most restrictive lockdowns, will allow those aged under 14 to go out from April 27
Spain has been in a nationwide lockdown since March 14 with the death toll at nearly 21,300, the third-highest official toll after the United States and Italy.
Germany
While Germany is allowing small shops to reopen, authorities cancelled Oktoberfest for the first time since World War II.
The festival was scheduled for September 19 to October 4 and was expected to draw some six million visitors.
Berlin has also joined a wave of federal states in Germany in ordering the wearing of protective masks on public transport from April 27.
The move to make masks compulsory comes after Germany began to cautiously lift coronavirus restrictions from Monday, with shops under 800 square metres allowed to reopen in most states.
Following a meeting with state premiers to agree to the new relaxations last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she “strongly recommended” wearing a mask on public transport and in shops.
Ten of Germany’s 16 regions have now announced similar rules.
France
France has registered at least 20,796 deaths from the new coronavirus as the number of hospitalized patients infected with COVID-19 continued to slowly decrease for the sixth straight day.
National health agency chief Jerome Salomon reported on Tuesday 12,900 deaths at hospitals and 7,896 in nursing homes since the beginning of the outbreak in the country.
Overall death rates nationwide were 61 per cent higher than usual from March 30 to April 5 and 47% higher than usual from April 6 to April 12, Salomon said.
With the country planning to lift confinement measures starting from May 11, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said children would progressively return to school over a three-week period depending on their age.
Classes will be split in small groups of no more than 15 students and some children will practice sports and open-air activities, while others will be in classrooms.
Statistics
The death toll in Europe has risen to 109,381 and the continent has registered 1,234,340 cases.
After the US, Italy is the next most affected country in terms of deaths with 24,648 fatalities and 183,957 confirmed infections.
It is followed by Spain with 21,282 fatalities and 204,178 confirmed infections, France with 20,796 deaths and 158,050 infections and Britain with 17,337 deaths and 129,044 cases.
READ MORE: Britain clueless in lockdown
Anne Barrowclough 6.25am: Britain celebrates Queen’s birthday in silence
Britain has celebrated Queen Elizabeth‘s 94th birthday in silence, for the first time abandoning the usual 21 gun salute.
With thousands dead amid the outbreak, the Queen decided that the gun salute wouldn’t be appropriate. The celebratory peal of bells at Westminster Abbey, where where the Queen was married and crowned has also been cancelled as the abbey is currently closed.
Thank you for your messages today, on The Queen’s 94th birthday. 🎈🎉
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 21, 2020
🎥 In this private footage from @RCT, we see The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, with her family, including her younger sister Princess Margaret. pic.twitter.com/T5IUS8MmQj
The royal family took to social media to share images of Elizabeth as she marked the occasion alone with Prince Philip at Windsor Castle.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, joined by their son Archie Mountbatten- Windsor, held a video call with to wish her a happy birthday. Other family members were also expected to telephone and video call the monarch privately to deliver their birthday messages.
The royal family also shared private family footage of the monarch as a young princess. The Royal Collection Trust archive film showed Elizabeth playing on a seesaw and in a garden with her sister, the late Princess Margaret.
READ MORE: Seal be right, mate
Agencies 5.55am: Italy to start easing lockdown from May 4
Italy is likely to start easing its lockdown from May 4, although the long-awaited rollback will be cautious and calculated, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says.
More than 24,100 people have died in the country since the contagion first emerged in February.
The restrictions - some of the most draconian in the world - have put a major strain on the euro zone’s third largest economy, but with the number of new cases gradually slowing, Mr Conte said he would unveil by the weekend government plans to loosen the shutdown. “I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning...But such a decision would be irresponsible,” Mr Conte wrote in a Facebook post.
He promised “a serious, scientific plan” that would include a “rethinking of modes of transport” to enable workers to travel in safety, new business rules and measures to check whether the loosening was leading to an uptick in infections.
“It is reasonable to expect that we will apply it from May 4,” he said, adding that a rushed, disorganised exit strategy would make a mockery of the sacrifices Italians had accepted.
Italy’s Treasury expects the economy to contract by around 8.0 per cent this year, which would be the country’s worst recession since World War Two.
READ MORE: Migrant worker crush exposees Singapore’s blind spot
Jacquelin Magnay 5.25am: UK to fast-track two virus vaccines
The British government has awarded grants of £42.5m to two vaccine developments to try and fast track a cure for coronavirus.
As global cases reached over 2.5 million, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that one of the recipients, the Oxford University vaccine trial at the Jenner Institute, would begin human trials this Thursday. The other, the Imperial College London was on Tuesday advertising for prospective healthy volunteers to be part of its upcoming trial in the coming months.
The news comes as the prime minister Boris Johnson recovered enough to have a phone conversation with the US president Donald Trump on Tuesday and the number of deaths in the UK rose by 823 to 17,337.
In new official figures, the UK also appears to have had 8000 “excess deaths’’ in the week before Easter, recorded by the UK’s Office of National Statistics, which will be investigated. Officials say it appears 80 per cent of those deaths, which occurred outside of hospitals, may be coronavirus related, but say the remaining additional 20 per cent of these deaths may have been from heart attacks and strokes from people delaying going to go to hospital because of the pandemic.
At the daily press conference, Mr Hancock said: “I can announce that the vaccine from the Oxford project will be trialled in people from this Thursday. In normal times, reaching this stage would take years and I’m very proud of the work taken so far.
”At the same time, we will invest in manufacturing capability so that if either of these vaccines safely work, we can make it available for the British people as soon as humanely possible.’’
Mr Hancock said he wanted to back the scientists to the hilt, adding: “The upside of being the first country in the world to develop a successful vaccine is so huge that I am throwing everything at it’’.
READ MORE: America on the road back to normal
Robyn Ironside 5.15am: Buyers queue for Virgin
Virgin Australia could have new owners in as little as eight weeks, with more than 10 potential suitors lining up for a closer look at the airline after it went into administration.
Virgin chief executive Paul Scurrah said the decision to appoint Deloitte as administrators followed nine knock-backs from the federal government to requests for financial assistance ranging from a $1.4bn loan facility down to a $200m grant.
. Despite concerns the airline would still be unable to emerge from administration without government help, Mr Scurrah was not counting on Canberra.
“The government’s made their intentions clear and we will do everything we can to come out of this with great new owners who can capitalise us to the extent that we need to be successful and healthy,” he said. His optimism was shared by employees who admitted feeling apprehensive -initially, but hopeful the move would lead to greater job security.
READ the full story here
Patrick Commins 5.10am: Tax reform cure for virus fever
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has urged the government to examine calls for an overhaul of the tax and industrial relations systems to lift Australia out of the “shadow” of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
Handing down a detailed assessment of the damage being wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Lowe warned that the nation could not rely on a quick return to a pre-coronavirus ¬economy and suggested long-ignored calls for income, consumption and land tax reform, as well as stripping regulations that stifle innovation, would need to be revived.
Dr Lowe said Australia faced a once-in-a-century “economic contraction” that would drive a 10 per cent drop in national output over the first half of the year.
READ the full story here.
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