Coronavirus, politics live news Australia: Covid man hosted party and WA acts on borders amid outbreak; Morrison’s sex culture claim challenged
As state border restrictions tighten for Queenslanders, it’s been revealed a Covid-infected man hosted a Brisbane party while waiting for his test result.
- WA introduces new border controls
- Premier pleads with PM to cut overseas arrivals
- Returned expats struggling for work
- New Brisbane case is UK variant
- Labor to ban union demergers if Albanese elected
- JobKeeper’s boost for business bottom line
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the day’s political events and the coronavirus crisis. Saturday unfolded with rising COVID anxiety in Brisbane.
The Queensland Premier has asked the Prime Minister to halve the number of overseas arrivals allowed into the state amid a surge in infected travellers and one new case of local transmission linked to hotel quarantine. Meanwhile, Scott Morrison says controversial Liberal MP Andrew Laming will undergo behaviour training after being counselled for a second time in three days for laughing off his apology in parliament over the trolling of two women online.
Greg Stolz and Maddy Morwood11pm:Another 25 in quarantine after ‘isolation party'
Queensland health authorities are scrambling to protect Brisbane from a COVID crisis after an infected man in his 20s hosted a house party while awaiting test results.
The suburban Strathpine man was identified as a close contact of a 26-year-old Stafford man who tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain on Thursday night.
But after being sent for testing and advised to isolate he allegedly ignored the strict health directive and invited 25 mates to party at his home on Friday night.
The 25 people who attended the party have been ordered into quarantine.
A list of venues visited by the Strathpine man was released on Saturday naming 15 sites including Bunnings Lawnton, Dan Murphys Strathpine and PCYC Lawnton from March 20-25.
Contact tracers are working to update the list based on the movements of the 25 party guests.
It is unknown, besides the people who attended the house party, how many contacts the Strathpine man has.
A source close to the two infected men told The Sunday Mail both were partying in Fortitude Valley last Friday night, a day before authorities started tracking the whereabouts of the first man.
University of Queensland virologist Professor Ian Mackay said there was a good chance the virus had spread.
“I think there’s a good chance he’s shared it amongst 25 people, depending on what kind of party it was, whether it was indoors, whether there was some fresh air coming, whether there was a decent ability to remove aerosol,” he said.
“But, I don’t think they’ll have had enough chance to spread that within the community further, so the risk of further spread is low, I would assume, and that’s a good thing.”
It comes as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk refused to rule out further COVID-19 lockdowns in the lead-up to the Easter weekend, leaving the tourism and hospitality industries on edge.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young is scheduled to brief the Premier about the unfolding emergency today and further announcements are expected.
Other states have imposed varying border restrictions, stopping short of hard border closures.
Ms Palaszczuk said the government was comfortable with measures “at the moment”.
The potential for another damaging lockdown ahead of the busy Easter holidays becoming more real in the wake of the COVID house party.
The man is a friend of the Stafford tradie who visited a large number of locations, including several outlets at the busy Westfield Carindale, while unknowingly COVID-positive last week.
The Sunday Mail (Qld)
FULL REPORT is here
Agencies10.30pm:UK PM sees ‘nothing’ in Covid data to stop lockdown easing
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed on Saturday to stick with his planned unwinding of a coronavirus lockdown, relishing the prospect of a pint and a haircut even as scientists warn of new variants.
Launching his Conservative party’s campaign for local elections in May, Mr Johnson said his government’s mass vaccination drive and pro-business policies would hasten economic recovery, “jab by jab, job by job”.
Wales became the first UK nation to lift travel restrictions on Saturday, since the latest round of curbs took hold to combat a deadly second wave of COVID-19 over winter.
From Monday, England’s stay-at-home order will also be relaxed to enable groups of up to six people to meet outside. The government plans to allow outdoors drinking in pub gardens, and non-essential retail such as hairdressers, from April 12.
Mr Johnson conceded that a third wave of COVID-19 was sweeping Europe and could well hit Britain in about three weeks.
But the “key difference” to last year was that any rise in infections and hospitalisations should be “sufficiently mitigated” by the vaccine rollout.
“And as things stand, I can see absolutely nothing in the data to dissuade me from continuing along our roadmap to freedom, unlocking our economy and getting back to the life we love,” he told a virtual Conservative event.
Britain’s vaccination drive has now given at least a first dose to more than 29 million adults, and the government plans to complete the phase by the end of July.
But it remains on guard against more infectious coronavirus variants, such as ones that emerged in Brazil and South Africa.
In phone talks with US President Joe Biden on Friday, Mr Johnson “stressed that global access to vaccines will be key to defeating the pandemic”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
AFP
Maddy Morwood and Greg Stolz7.10pm:COVID-positive man hosted 25 at home
A Brisbane man at the centre of Queensland’s latest COVID-19 crisis threw a house party after being ordered to isolate, Queensland Health has revealed.
The man was a friend of the 26-year-old Stafford, Brisbane, trade worker who visited a large number of locations last week while unknowingly positive, sparking a contact tracing emergency.
The Strathpine man, aged in his 20s, is the second confirmed case in the past two days.
A Public Health Alert has been issued for parts of Brisbane and Moreton Bay regions in relation to these cases.
Queensland Health said locations may be added after it was revealed the Strathpine man hosted a gathering of about 25 people at his home between being instructed to isolate and getting his positive test results.
“The attendees at the party have been placed in quarantine while the risk is assessed,” a spokesman said.
“Anyone who has been to any of the venues … must immediately isolate and get tested.”
The Courier-Mail
READ MORE from here
Greg Brown5.55pm:Labor review to test whether MPs have a say on war
An Albanese government would launch a wide-ranging inquiry into how Australia makes decisions to go to war, under a resolution to be voted on at next week’s national conference.
The inquiry, to be held by the joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade, would consider whether there should be parliamentary debates before a decision is made to go to war.
It would also likely consider whether there should be a vote of parliament before sending troops to war, although sources say there would be little support for this proposal within Labor.
The amendment, sponsored by senior Left faction MPs Josh Wilson and Julian Hill, resolves that “an Albanese government will refer the issue of how Australia makes decisions to send service personnel into international armed conflict to an inquiry”.
Read the full story here.
Oliver Moody5.15pm:Germany’s third wave could be worst yet
Germany’s third wave is likely to be the worst yet with as many as 100,000 new cases a day, a government scientist predicted.
People have been told to avoid indoor gatherings over Easter and mandatory tests will be imposed on everyone flying into the country from Tuesday.
The more aggressive B117 strain, first seen in southeast England, has torn through Germany just as it started to reopen primary schools, kindergartens and non-essential shops after its second wave subsided.
The seven-day infection rate has climbed to 119.1 new cases per 100,000 people, half the level in France and a fifth of that in Hungary. But the exponential growth is causing concern in Berlin.
The number of cases appears to be doubling roughly every 17 or 18 days and may rise to a record high soon after the Easter weekend.
“At the moment the numbers are increasing too fast and the virus variants make the situation particularly dangerous,” Jens Spahn, 40, the health minister, said. “If this continues unchecked, we are running the risk that our health system will be pushed to its limits in April.”
The Times
READ MORE:Exceptional ordinariness of Australia’s last living convict
Nicholas Jensen4.25pm:SA records no new local cases
South Australia has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with three new cases detected in hotel quarantine.
Health officials confirmed there were 2367 tests recorded to 8pm yesterday.
The state is currently monitoring 14 active cases, all of which were detected in hotel quarantine.
The total number of cases recorded in SA since the beginning of the pandemic has now reached 5,092 individuals.
Health officials also administered 1440 vaccinations across the state yesterday.
READ MORE: Ex-MP blames party for ‘boy’s club’ dirt sheet
Nicholas Jensen3.51pm:WA introduces new border controls
WA Health Minister Roger Cook has provided an update on the state’s revised border controls, as new measures were introduced today following Queensland’s two new cases of community transmission.
“If you have been to any of the locations identified in yesterday’s directions, you are required to get a test and isolate for 14 days with a day 11 test,” he said.
“If you’re just simply travelling from Queensland but have not been to those locations, you’re still required to get a test and to isolate until you return a negative result.”
WA receives approximately a thousand travellers from Queensland per day.
Speaking in Perth today, Mr Cook said “obviously thousands of people have arrived since the 20th of March, which is the initial date that we want people to isolate from after they’ve been to those locations”.
The minister said the WA government was “taking cautious and proportionate steps just to make sure we mitigate the risk associated to Western Australia”.
The directive is effective immediately, requiring all arrivals to get tested within 48 hours.
WA Health officials have said an “interim border control” will be put in place until at least 12.01am March 30.
The WA government said further measures could be introduced depending on health advice.
“It’s also crucial for any arrivals from Queensland in the last 14 days to monitor their own health and if any symptoms present, they should go get tested immediately,” Mr Cook said.
READ MORE: Hotel industry desperate for government clarity
Joe Kelly3.25pm:PM’s sex culture claim challenged
The whistleblower on Parliament House’s sex culture claims hook-ups and blow-jobs at work were occurring even while Scott Morrison was Prime Minister and says he has provided detailed information in lengthy exchanges with Finance Minister Simon Birmingham’s office this week.
“Tom the Whistleblower” — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — said he met with Senator Birmingham’s chief of staff on Thursday from 10.30am to midday in a quiet room in Parliament House after an initial 30-minute phone conversation at about 9am that day.
Tom told The Weekend Australian he was informed late on Friday by Senator Birmingham’s office that the Finance Department was “commencing an investigation” into political staff and he had been asked to provide statements. He also said he verbally provided information to Senator Birmingham’s chief of staff relating to four people who are current and former staffers; three non-staffers; one sex worker; a former minister and a sitting MP about a string of sexual encounters from September 2015 to 2020.
He said he had prepared a digital file containing texts, videos and images to support his claims, but that it was not requested in his discussions on Thursday with the government and not passed on.
Senator Birmingham’s office did not deny meeting with Tom and The Weekend Australian understands the government was on Friday hoping to collect information for possible examination.
Victorian Health has reported that almost 15,000 individuals from Queensland’s orange zone have already been contacted.
Read the full story here.
Nicholas Jensen3.12pm:Victoria records no new cases
Victoria has recorded no new cases of COVID-19, with no cases currently active in the state.
This is the 29th consecutive day of no locally acquired cases, after 10,286 people came forward for testing in the last 24 hours.
The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 20,483.
Regarding the state’s new Queensland alerts, Brisbane and Moreton Bay have been designated as orange zones under Victoria’s ‘traffic light’ travel permit system.
On arrival in Victoria, orange zone permit holders must self-isolate, get tested within 72 hours of arriving and await a negative result is returned.
Meanwhile, the state administered 5,072 COVID-19 vaccination doses yesterday at hospital hubs.
Yesterday’s figure brings the total number of vaccine doses administered in the first four weeks of the program to 80,698.
READ MORE:RAAF flying confidently into next century
Patrick Commins2.55pm:Could pandemic cash splash have been better spent?
As a third wave of COVID-19 infections rolls across Europe, Australia is in the relatively luxurious position of few cases, virtually zero community transmission and a V-shaped economic recovery in which all of the jobs lost at the height of the pandemic were regained by last month.
By the close of last year, national output was only 1.1 per cent smaller than it was a year earlier — an astounding outcome after real gross domestic product plunged by 7 per cent across the three months to June.
The rollout of the vaccine, while perhaps slower than some would have liked, continues apace, and Australians now can look forward to a near future in which the population has achieved a level of immunity that foreshadows a return to something more closely resembling pre-pandemic life.
With the recovery looking bumpy but largely secured, new analysis emerged that perhaps some of the $150bn thrown at the crisis, in retrospect, could have been better spent.
The budget update in July last year provided the first painful glimpse of the ultimate cost to taxpayers of “building a bridge” to the other side of the pandemic.
Read the full story here.
Nicholas Jensen2.30pm:WA records no news cases
Western Australian health officials have reported no new cases of COVID-19 overnight.
WA Health is currently monitoring 10 active cases of COVID-19, with 915 individuals having recovered from the virus.
On Friday 247 people presented for testing at WA Health clinics.
There have been 931,175 COVID-19 tests performed in WA to date, with 134,455 of those occurring across regional WA.
To date, 36 cases of variant strains have been detected in WA, including the South African and UK variants.
WA Health has also administered 44,048 vaccinations, of which 4025 people who have received both doses. Yesterday, 2382 people were vaccinated.
READ MORE: Niki Savva — PM stumbles over his own bag of tricks
Nicholas Jensen2pm:Laughing Laming to undergo counselling
Liberal MP Andrew Laming has agreed to undergo an unspecified re-education course over his trolling of women online.
After disciplining Dr Laming on Thursday over his behaviour, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was forced to speak to him again on Saturday, after the Queensland Liberal laughed off his grovelling apology to two women he abused on Facebook
Dr Laming last night admitted he “didn’t even know” what he was apologising for when he got up in Parliament to say sorry to two constituents.
“In this climate — I willingly apologise — I didn’t even know what for at 4pm when I did it,’’ Dr Laming wrote on Facebook, along with a series of laughing face emojis. He later told reporters the post was made accidentally while his phone was in his pocket.
Resisting calls for Dr Laming’s sacking, Scott Morrison on Saturday said the Member for Bowman instead needed help with his behaviour.
“I spoke with him again this morning, and I’m arranging for Mr Laming to get appropriate assistance with a private course, to build his understanding and awareness about his actions,” the Prime Minister said.
Read the full story here.
Paola Totaro1.45pm:UK’s Covid army heeds the call
It’s early morning on a crisp, spring day in London and I’m on my bicycle, bound for Westminster Abbey to embark on a first shift as a volunteer COVID vaccinator with St John Ambulance.
It is 12 months to the day since Britain went into lockdown amid a pandemic that has ended more than 125,000 British lives and almost three million worldwide. I had no idea that on that day last year I, too, had already become infected, remaining oblivious until my sense of smell disappeared suddenly four days later.
As I ride the empty, quiet streets of the capital and lock the bike up in the shadow of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament, there is no escaping the reality that the virus has yet to release its deadly grip on this city.
Inside the Abbey vaccine centre, the day’s work has already begun. It’s barely 8am but inside a small room behind Poet’s Corner, a phalanx of pharmacists is drawing up syringes with single doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine while the team of St John and National Health Service volunteers are briefed on the upcoming shift. However, we are not allowed anywhere until we line up to take a lateral flow test for COVID-19 and ensure these prove negative. Once given the go-ahead, we are asked to mask up, sanitise hands to the elbows and take our seats at the row of eight vaccinator’s tables to wait for the queues to form.
Read the full story here.
Adam Creighton1.10pm:How dismal science forecasts failed society
With unemployment almost back to where it was before the pandemic and relatively few COVID-19 deaths in our wake, it’s easy to be triumphalist about our response to the coronavirus.
But state and federal government debts have increased by more, as a share of gross domestic product, than any other major developed nation since restrictions began a year ago.
In October 2019 Australia’s public debt was on track to fall a little, to the equivalent of 41 per cent of GDP, by 2021.
On the International Monetary Fund’s latest figures, government debt will be the equivalent of 75 per cent of GDP this year, a difference of around $680bn — enough to build the National Broadband Network, for instance, about 12 times over. Other social and economic costs will emerge in years to come.
A year on, it’s fair to ask whether we overreacted — spent too much, locked down too heavily — and, if so, why.
Read Adam Creighton’s full analysis here.
Nicholas Jensen12.35pm: NSW records no new cases
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with three new cases detected in hotel quarantine.
The total number of cases recorded in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic has now reached 5,092 individuals.
Health officials confirmed there were 8,256 tests reported to 8pm last night.
READ MORE:Defamation blow-up as MP makes shock claims in emails
Nicholas Jensen12.06pm: Queensland records one new case
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced one case of local transmission in connection with yesterday’s positive COVID-19 case, as health officials aim to ramp-up the state’s testing.
The premier said “we now have one new case of community transmission but the individual is a close contact of the man we mentioned yesterday”.
“That’s very good news, but the next two days are going to be critical for us.”
Overnight Queensland also recorded five new cases in hotel quarantine, as well as the one close contact of the Stafford man who tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
Health officials have identified 18 close contacts of the man, with contact tracers rushing to find anyone else who may have come into contact with him.
“We are concerned about people who attended the Carindale shopping centre, so that was between noon and 2.15pm, and they must come forward for testing,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
In response to the new case, Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said testing rates had tripled yesterday.
Yesterday, 6,881 tests were conducted across Queensland.
Dr Young said health officials were in regular contact with the infected individual, who lives in Strathpine in the Moreton Bay region.
The government also announced the opening of two more vaccination sites today at Coomera and Eight Mile Plains, with Ms Palaszczuk saying 21,420 vaccinations had been administered in the last we
READ MORE:Scott Morrison under pressure to force out Andrew Laming
Christine Kellett11.37am:Premier asks PM to halve international arrivals
Queensland’s Premier has asked Scott Morrison to halve the number of overseas arrivals being allowed into the state, amid a surge in positive cases in returned travellers.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has told a press conference on Saturday that Queensland hospitals were almost at the capacity seen at the peak of the pandemic.
“Basically, every day over the last fortnight, we have been seeing five or six cases,”
“We’re almost at the capacity of our hospitals that we were at the peak the pandemic. That is not to say our hospitals cannot cope, they will be able to cope, but this is a large influx that we are seeing, and the high rate of people coming back are returned travellers (testing) positive.”
Ms Palaszczuk said she had written to the Prime Minister seeking a two-week reprieve.
“I’m asking the Prime Minister to halve our number of overseas returning travellers.
She said about 1300 people a week were currently coming in to Queelsnad from overseas.
“We are just asking for the next two weeks while we get everything under control, and the fact that we are seeing these every single days, we are getting positives out of hotel quarantine.
“We’re not seeing large-scale immunity transmission, just close contacts.”
READ MORE:Experts call for second China probe
Nicholas Jensen11.28am:PM to accelerate flood support
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to accelerate the financial support available to flood-affected regions across NSW, as residents and emergency services begin to clean up and access the damage after a week of record-breaking floods and rainfall.
Speaking from the flood affected region of greater western Sydney, the prime minister said it had been a traumatic week for much of the state and thanked those communities and volunteers who have begun to support the clean-up.
Mr Morrison announced the expansion of loans to flood affected areas, saying: “we will be extending the new loan products that we have already announced, these are $5 million loans for businesses with up to $250 million in turnover, this has two years nothing to pay and a 10 year loan term.”
“This is being done through the banks and we will underwrite 80 per cent of those loans.” and
“This is about backing the businesses and producers that are backing themselves to get back on their feet,” Mr Morrison said.
Regarding the new COVID-19 case in Queensland, the Prime Minister said he had a lot of faith in the processes of the state governments, saying “I know they will be doing their best to handle the situation”.
“What we have here is one case and I think we’re in a very different environment to what we were in last year. I would recommend a balanced approach here, understanding that the risk calculation has now changed.”
READ MORE:Lives and livelihoods swept away in a too-familiar story
John Ferguson11.10am:Hotel industry desperate for government clarity
The nation’s politicians are failing the pub test, exposing thousands to imminent job losses and business to financial carnage.
Hoteliers are demanding both tiers of government end the standoff over compensation and restrictions and unite to prevent thousands of jobs being lost and a new wave of businesses imploding after the end of JobKeeper.
New figures show for the first time the extent of the hit on the industry in 2020, with a drop of 30 per cent in draught beer sales compared with the previous year, including a $1bn fall in sales.
The numbers for the first two COVID-19 lockdown months of April and May last year show that sales volumes through pubs and clubs fell by a staggering 94 per cent and 96 per cent.
That catastrophic result, reported by the Brewers Association of Australia, does not take into account the millions of dollars borrowed by hoteliers to keep their businesses afloat and the drastic impact of current COVID-19 rules, which in many cases cut patronage by 50 per cent.
Read the full story here.
Nicholas Jensen10.20am:Border restrictions as Qld lists new exposure sites
Queensland Health has updated its list of potential exposure sites, after a case of community transmission was linked to a UK variant cluster at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
The local case has caused other state governments to instruct recent arrivals from the affected area to self-isolate and get tested.
The orders cover anyone in Victoria who has been in Brisbane or the Moreton Bay region since March 12, and anyone in South Australia or the ACT who have visited these areas since March 20.
Tasmania, Western Australia and NSW have also updated their advice, but did not impose self-isolation orders.
Queensland Health has listed a number of public exposure sites:
Thursday, March 25
Aldi Stafford, Stafford City Shopping Centre, 400 Stafford Road, Stafford 8.30am-8.45am
Nundah Respiratory Clinic, 1270 Sandgate, Nundah 11.15am-11.40am
Monday, March 22
Guzman y Gomez Stafford, 400 Stafford Road, Stafford 12.20pm-12.25pm
Bunnings Stafford, 450 Stafford Road, Stafford 12.40pm-12.50pm
Sunday, March 21
Gasworks Plaza, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead 9.50am-10.20am
Genki Mart, 3/24 South Pine Road, New Alderley 10.30am-10.46am
Mamma’s Italian Restaurant, 69 Redcliffe Parade, Redcliffe 12.30pm-3.10pm
KFC Everton Park (drive through), 6 Griffith Street, Everton Park 7.55pm-8pm
Saturday, March 20
Westfield Carindale Shopping Centre, Carindale 12pm-2.16pm
Market Organics, 190 Enoggera Road, Newmarket 2.45pm-3pm
Baskins-Robbins, 2/489 South Pine Road, Everton Park 9.20pm-9.25pm
READ MORE:Susan Kurosawa — What I miss most about overseas travel
Agencies9.55am:Russia, China using vaccines as ‘tools of influence’
Russia and China are using their COVID vaccines for propaganda purposes and to extend their influence aboard, France has claimed.
“In terms of how it is managed, it (Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine) is more a means of propaganda and aggressive diplomacy than a means of solidarity and health aid,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
The Russian vaccine has come under much criticism in Western countries, while President Vladimir Putin — who received a Sputnik jab on Tuesday — has dismissed the scepticism as “strange”.
French President Emmanuel Macron also claimed his country was facing a “new kind of world war”, pointing to the two powers using their vaccines for “influence”. Mr Le Drian said they were doing this “even before vaccinating their own populations”.
Read the full story here.
Glenda Korporaal9.20am:Mixed welcome home for our expats
Australian expats are returning to the country in increasing numbers because of the COVID-19 pandemic but are finding it more difficult to get work, according to Advance chief executive Johanna Pitman.
Pitman, who was recently appointed to the top job of the expat support group, which is partly funded by the federal government, says 400,000 Australians have returned during the past year, from a total of about a million Australians living overseas before the pandemic.
But many are finding it difficult to get work. Employers are more wary of making senior hires, and staff working from home and other COVID-related work changes make networking for the newly returned expats difficult.
Read the full story here.
Jamie Walker9am:New Brisbane case is UK variant
A 26-year-old landscaper who mysteriously contracted COVID-19 in Brisbane, triggering new restrictions only days out from Easter, has the hyper-infectious UK strain and could have spread the virus for a week before he went into quarantine.
Queensland Health is scrambling to pinpoint the source of the infection amid fears it could seed an outbreak and disrupt holiday travel at a crucial juncture for the state’s battered tourism industry.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said genomic testing showed the new case was linked to a cluster earlier this month that led to the infection of a doctor at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. While concerning given that outbreak involved the UK variant, health authorities will be relieved they are not confronting the prospect of the virus spreading from an unknown source.
In those circumstances the Queensland government could have been forced to further tighten the COVID restrictions reintroduced in Brisbane on Friday just as airlines, hotels and hospitality services were gearing up for Easter.
Read the full story here.
Greg Browne, Angelica Snowden8.45am:ALP to ban union demergers if elected
Anthony Albanese will repeal union demerger laws if he becomes prime minister, with the policy to be enshrined in the ALP’s policy platform at next week’s “virtual” national conference.
The move from the Labor leader will mean the mining and energy division of the CFMEU will be able to use the Morrison government’s laws — passed with bipartisan support in parliament in December — to break away from the militant construction division, but an Albanese government would prevent breakaways in other amalgamated unions.
In a major win for unions, opposition industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke said the policy was in line with Labor’s failed push for the government’s laws to have a 12 month sunset clause.
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins8.30am:JobKeeper’s boost for business bottom line
Only a quarter of the $90bn JobKeeper program has been used for emergency income support for workers, according to new research, with the peak small business body also warning of the loss of 32,000 accommodation jobs in Sydney and Melbourne next week following the end of the wage-subsidy scheme.
As tens of thousands of workers and businesses still suffering from COVID restrictions brace for the end of JobKeeper, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said employees were already receiving notices of termination and warned of a “surge” in business failures that would “add to the wave of job losses”.
“We have already witnessed a 61 per cent increase in insolvencies in February with the removal of the temporary safe harbour protections,” ACCI acting chief executive Jenny Lambert said.
Read the full story here.
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