Politics live news Australia: Daniel Andrews won’t return to work until June
Victorian Premier gives an update on his serious spinal injuries, says he has ‘no alternative’ but to focus on his rehab.
- We’re in no rush to open borders: PM
- Billion-dollar energey deal struck with SA
- More freedoms for vaccinated Australians
- Outrage over Liberals’ election spending
- Global Covid death toll hits three million
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the day’s political events and response to the coronavirus crisis.
Vaccinated Australians could be able travel overseas and return via home quarantine in the second half of the year, but Scott Morrison has warned the federal government will not rush the lifting of international border restrictions. Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has not ruled out the building of a new production facility that could produce mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna to speed up the national rollout.
Paul Kelly 11.15pm: The minister for zest and charm
Andrew Sharp Peacock was a gifted son and diligent servant of the Liberal Party during his long 28 years in the national parliament — conspicuous for his natural political talent, his touch of personal magnetism and deep understanding of Australia’s role in the world.
Having succeeded Sir Robert Menzies in 1966 in the seat of Kooyong, Peacock was forever stamped with the aura of being a future prime minister but his career can only be understood in the context of his prolonged rivalry with Malcolm Fraser and then with John Howard. While Peacock failed to achieve the highest office this disappointment rarely afflicted him, and he lived a rich and fulfilled life.
As a politician Peacock had appeal, style and presence; as a man he was engaging, generous and decent. For much of his career Peacock appeared ahead of his time, yet towards the end Australia seemed to have moved beyond the leadership he offered.
AFP11.05pm:Sinn Fein ‘sorry’ for IRA murder of Prince Philip’s uncle
The leader of Ireland’s Sinn Fein party, once the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, has apologised for the group’s killing of Prince Philip’s uncle Louis Mountbatten.
The IRA killed Philip’s mentor in 1979 as part of a decades-long conflict waged between Irish republicans and those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain in British hands.
Mary Lou McDonald’s comment came a day after the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest, following his death at the age of 99 on April 9.
“Of course I am sorry that happened, of course that is heart-breaking,” McDonald told Times Radio on Sunday.
“I am happy to reiterate that on the weekend that your queen buried her beloved husband.
It was the first time the political leader of Irish republicans has apologised for the bombing, with Ms McDonald’s predecessor Gerry Adams saying at the time that Mountbatten was a legitimate target.
Three other people, including Mountbatten’s 14-year-old grandson and a 15-year-old boy, were killed when the IRA blew up Mountbatten’s yacht in the Irish village of Mullaghmore.
Mountbatten was also a mentor to Philip’s son Prince Charles. Ms McDonald said “my job, and I think Prince Charles... would absolutely appreciate this, is to lead from the front now, in these times.
“It’s all of our jobs to make sure that no other child, no other family, irrespective of who they are, face the kind of trauma and heartbreak that was all too common sadly in all sides on this island and beyond,” she said.
About 3500 lives were lost in the conflict between unionists and nationalists over the future of Northern Ireland that ended with a landmark peace deal in 1998.
On Saturday, Irish prime minister Micheal Martin warned against a “spiral back” into sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, as a week of riots raised fears for the future of the fragile deal.
READ MORE:The heir becomes more apparent as Queen winds down
Rosie Lewis 10.30pm:States resist PM’s push for home quarantine
Scott Morrison faces resistance from the states as he seeks their approval for a bolstered home quarantine system and tries to prepare the country for essential travellers heading overseas by Christmas.
With national cabinet returning to a “warlike footing” on Monday, meeting twice a week to get the delayed vaccine rollout back on track, Health Minister Greg Hunt also revealed there could be onshore manufacturing of mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna to protect against COVID-19 within a year.
He said there was “very high interest” from CSL and a wide range of other companies, which he would not name because of commercial disclosure requirements. He said the government was already working on a business case after Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews declared an mRNA manufacturing plant could “absolutely” be built here.
Paul Garvey 9.45pm:Liberals to debate Palestine position
The Liberal Party will debate whether to formally “disavow” any push to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state at its upcoming Federal Council in Canberra next month.
A set of four policy motions unanimously approved by the party’s WA division earlier this month and obtained by The Australian included a proposal for the party to formally distance itself from Labor’s recently adopted position on the Middle East.
The move comes just weeks after Labor voted for the first time to recognise the state of Palestine in its national platform, despite strong opposition from sections of the party’s Right faction.
The Liberal Party policy motion “calls on the federal government to continue to support peace initiatives between Israel and the Palestinian leadership through the path of negotiations and diplomacy and to disavow any push towards the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”.
Should the motion win support at the council, it will leave the two major Australian parties holding deeply different views on an issue that carries significant weight in the eyes of the Jewish community.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry had previously slammed Labor over its support for an amendment, with the group describing Labor’s move as “an outdated, one-sided approach that is at odds with Israel’s recent normalisation of relations with Arab states”.
The council’s co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, on Sunday welcomed the Liberals’ proposed motion.
“This is a sensible policy position that affirms that the path to conflict resolution lies in negotiations between the parties and not in entertaining legal fictions of Palestinian statehood,” Mr Ryvchin told The Australian. “The policy affirms the government’s proud record of support for the democratic homeland of the Jewish people and privileges truth and reason over gesture politics and misguided symbolism.
AFP 9pm:Syria to hold presidential vote
Syria is to hold a presidential election on May 26, the parliament speaker announced on Sunday, the country’s second in the shadow of civil war, seen as likely to keep President Bashar Al-Assad in power.
Syrians abroad will be “able to vote at embassies” on May 20, Hamouda Sabbagh said in a statement, adding prospective candidates could hand in their applications from Monday.
Assad, who took power following the death of his father, Hafez, in 2000, has yet to officially announce that he will stand for re-election.
He won a previous election three years into Syria’s devastating civil war in 2014, with 88 per cent of the vote.
Under Syria’s 2012 constitution, a president may only serve two seven-year terms — with the exception of the president elected in the 2014 poll.
Candidates must have lived continuously in Syria for at least 10 years, meaning opposition figures in exile are barred from standing.
Candidates must also have the backing of at least 35 members of the parliament, which is dominated by Assad’s Baath party.
This year’s vote comes after Russian-backed Syrian government forces re-seized the vital northern city of Aleppo and other opposition-held areas, placing Damascus in control of two-thirds of the country.
But the poll also comes amid a crushing economic crisis.
The decade-long civil war has left at least 388,000 people dead and half of the population displaced
READ MORE: Greens leaders in bizarre identity theft
Tessa Akerman8.25pm:Paused vaccine given jab go-ahead
Victoria will resume offering the AstraZeneca vaccination to people under 50 after the rollout was paused earlier this month following advice over blood-clotting side effects.
The vaccinations will resume on Wednesday at the state’s three mass vaccination hubs — Geelong’s old Ford site, the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Health Minister Martin Foley said people eligible under 1A and 1B could the vaccine with training and liability issues resolved. He said there was a “sense of urgency” in ramping up the rollout: “This is important because we need to re-establish confidence in our vaccination program which has taken a bit of a hit.”
Adeshola Ore7.50pm:Tourism seeks Asia bubble after NZ launch
Tourism bodies are urging the Morrison government to provide a road map for future travel bubbles as the nation takes its first steps to resume international aviation with the commencement of two-way quarantine-free flights with New Zealand.
The trans-Tasman bubble will now be a two-way corridor, allowing New Zealanders and Australians to travel between the two countries without a two-week stint in hotel quarantine at either end. A one-way bubble allowing New Zealanders to enter some Australia states without undertaking hotel quarantine had been in place since mid-October.
Scott Morrison said the commencement of the two-way travel bubble was a “milestone” and a “win-win” for both countries that would boost each economy.
“Both countries have done a remarkable job in protecting our communities from COVID, and two-way flights are an important step in our road out,” he said.
Australian Tourism Industry Council executive director Simon Westaway said the “key target” for Australia’s tourism market remained Asia, North America and Europe because of their high-yield tourists. But he said having open borders with New Zealand would help instil confidence in the government to pursue more bubbles in other markets. The Prime Minister last week nominated Singapore as the next country for a travel bubble.
Matthew Denholm7.20pm: Ex-Liberal ‘may back Labor’ as Clark proves key
Former Tasmanian Liberal speaker Sue Hickey could back Labor to govern in a hung parliament and would demand a written funding deal in exchange for her support.
The Liberal-turned-independent told The Australian she would negotiate with both major parties in such a scenario, with a written deal the price of her support to govern.
“I would be having some heavy negotiations with both sides but whoever I decided to support would have to agree that commitments would be honoured,” Ms Hickey said.
“Any promises — as in building a mental health facility, or 500 (more public) houses — I would make sure was in writing. They would be held to account, with a timeline on it.”
While the Liberals are well ahead in statewide polling, there is no guarantee the party — which governed with a majority of one — can translate this to a larger parliamentary majority.
After spectacularly falling out with Ms Hickey and effectively dumping her from the party, a reliance on her support to govern would be a nightmare for the Liberals.
The feisty Ms Hickey is contesting her Hobart-based seat of Clark as an independent, in an electorate shaping as the hardest for psephologists to predict.
If the May 1 state election is tight, the outcome here, in much of Hobart’s southern, northern and western suburbs, could be vital.
Stephen Rice 6.45pm:Greens leaders in bizarre identity theft
Greens leader Adam Bandt would like to set the record straight: he has not been moonlighting as the boss of a sinister Paris-based “human rights” organisation with links to Eastern European organised crime figures.
Yes, that’s his picture on their website but he’s not leading a double life as Waclaw Kozakiewicz from Poland.
Until last week, he’d never heard of the Comite International pour la Protection des Droits de l’Homme (CIPDH), the mysterious consortium that claims he and other Greens figures as high-ranking officials.
“This is up there for the weirdest thing that’s happened in my time in public life, and you can’t help but be uneasy about it,” Mr Bandt said.
The Greens leader has a right to be concerned. The CIPDH has been linked to international crimes ranging from the theft of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s missing fortune to providing cover for Kremlin-backed separatist armies.
Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam also gets a guernsey in the fake humanitarian outfit, as Robert Comune, supposedly a vice-president of the CIPDH, and former party leader Bob Brown is Zbishik Pakolov, another vice-president.
Matthew Parris 6pm:How the West can escape China’s clutches
Is any sane reader under any illusion about the People’s Republic of China? Assuming not, I shall not labour the point that the Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat the free world faces in the century ahead.
You know that. You know the CCP is treating China’s Uighur minority with hideous inhumanity, brutalising Hong Kong and breaking its word to Britain, and trying to seize control of the South China Sea; that at home China is becoming a surveillance state of Orwellian proportions, and abroad stealing our intellectual property and tilting the playing field against our exports; that the CCP tries to infiltrate our universities and intimidates great Western commercial institutions such as HSBC into ashamed compliance.
You know, in short, that the CCP’s vision is of a rising China and a free world dwindling by degrees into impotent dependency. Thanks to so many passionately warning voices like those of former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, experts in the field like the Royal United Services Institute’s Charles Parton, or brave television documentary-makers like Robin Barnwell, these truths should not be in doubt.
Nick Tabakoff5.30pm: Topless pollie refocuses paparazzi — and his Premier
The hordes of paparazzi who congregate in Byron Bay are best known for shots of Hollywood celebrities, not topless male politicians.
But Steven Miles changed the snappers’ priorities after Brisbane’s Sunday Mail published front-page photos of Queensland’s Deputy Premier in various stages of undress while frolicking in the Byron surf.
The hypocrisy of Queensland’s chief anti-NSW campaigner abandoning the Sunshine State — after months of loudly pushing for more federal government support for Queensland tourism businesses — was lost on no one, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Agencies4.30pm:Germany to mourn 80,000 pandemic victims at memorial
Germany will hold a national memorial service on Sunday for its 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, sharing the pain of grieving families and those who died alone because of Covid curbs.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will join an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction.
They will later attend a ceremony at the capital’s Konzerthaus, where the president will make a speech.
With pandemic curbs still in force restricting the number of people who can attend, the ceremonies will be broadcast live on public television.
“As president I believe it is very important for us to stop to say goodbye in dignity to those who died during the pandemic -- including those who did not fall victim to the virus but who also died in loneliness,” said Steinmeier as he announced the national service.
Besides suffering the pain of losing a loved one, restrictions in place to curb infections mean that relatives are often unable to even hold their family members’ hands as they lay dying.
Others have been left grieving on their own, as funerals or memorials are curtailed by pandemic curbs.
In a dialogue with the president earlier this year, relatives of coronavirus victims voiced their loneliness.
Steinmeier stressed that it was important to look beyond the daily victim counts.
“Behind every number, there’s a human fate,” he said.
Regional leaders urged citizens to join in the remembrance including by lighting candles by their windows from Friday to Sunday.
“We want to be aware of what we lost, but we also want to find hope and strength together,” the premiers of Germany’s 16 states said in a statement.
Sunday’s ceremony comes as health authorities warn that many more will succumb to the virus, as Germany struggles to put down a vicious third wave gripping the country.
READ MORE:Angela Merkel: the smartest person in the room for almost two decades
Agencies4.00pm:Oscars producers lift lid on pandemic-era show
A “teeny-tiny” red carpet, no invitations for Hollywood’s most powerful moguls, and a “central” role for masks -- next weekend’s in-person Oscars are taking no risks when it comes to Covid-19, but the event still would have been “impossible” to hold just weeks earlier, producers said Saturday.
The 93rd Academy Awards will mark the first time Tinseltown’s finest have assembled in over a year, for a three-hour show that co-producer Steven Soderbergh said is “not going to be like anything that’s been done before.” The delayed April 25 ceremony takes place barely a week after California opened vaccinations to all over-16s, with infection rates plummeting after a massive winter surge ripped through the state. Movie theaters are even reopening.
Asked by AFP about the impact of the show’s two-month postponement, Soderbergh said: “It would have been impossible for us to do what we’re gonna do... I don’t know how we would have done it.” “This is the working definition of trying to build an airplane while it’s in the air,” the director told a virtual press conference, adding that his experience of making films during the pandemic -- and his 2011 thriller “Contagion” -- had proven invaluable.
The ceremony will take place amid the “physical grandeur” of Los Angeles’s cavernous Union Station, with nominees mingling outdoors and then rotated in and out of the venue during the show.
The traditional red carpet will be dramatically downsized, and the guest list will be so limited that even powerful Disney boss Bob Iger “won’t be there,” said Soderbergh.
Speaking from the venue’s courtyard -- where only nominees, their plus ones, and a handful of presenters will chat and drink -- Soderbergh said he hopes the Oscars will present the world “a glimpse of what’s going to be possible when most people are vaccinated, and rapid, accurate, cheap testing is the norm.” “Masks are going to play a very important role in the story of this evening,” he added. “If that’s cryptic, it’s meant to be -- but that topic is very central to the narrative.”
READ MORE:Oscars 2021: nominations are a win for diversity, female directors and first-timers
Rachel Baxendale3.25pm:Andrews won’t return to work until June
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he will not be able to return to work until June - meaning he will miss the state budget in May.
Mr Andrews has been recovering at home since a fall on slippery stairs at a Mornington Peninsula holiday house landed him in intensive care with fractures to his spine and multiple ribs in March.
On Sunday afternoon the Premier sent out an update on social media, saying that thanks to the “best of care” he was making “slow and steady” progress.
My physio is also going well, but it’s clear I won’t be able to return to work before the State Budget in May. The good news is my team of specialists are confident that I will be back in June.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) April 18, 2021
I want to thank @JamesMerlinoMP and all the team who are working so hard and doing so well. And, of course another big thank you to the health professionals who are looking after me.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) April 18, 2021
Above all, thanks to all those Victorians who have sent messages of love and support – it means a lot.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) April 18, 2021
I’m being regularly reviewed by my medical team and I’ll provide more updates in the weeks ahead. pic.twitter.com/lSQATqHTjX
Mr Andrews said, posting a picture of himself at home with his teenage daughter, Grace.
READ MORE:I landed flat on my back: Andrews out of hospital, off for at least six weeks
Tessa Akerman3.10pm: AstraZeneca jabs resume for Victorians under 50s
Vaccinations of Victorians under 50 with AstraZeneca will resume after the rollout was paused following advice over serious blood clotting side effects.
The rollout was paused on April 9 but will resume Wednesday at the state’s three mass vaccination hubs.
Health minister Martin Foley said people eligible under 1A and 1B would be able to get the vaccine with training and liability issues resolved.
He said the vaccination hubs were an important opportunity to rebuild Victorians confidence in the vaccination program.
Professor Ben Cowie is leading the state’s vaccine rollout and said the pause allowed updated consent forms and information for the public and health workers.
He said there were risks associated with AstraZeneca but the public health advice supported the resumption of the rollout given the limited supply of the Pfizer vaccine
“Whilst there are very rare serious side effects for the AstraZeneca vaccine, particularly for people aged under 50 years, essentially we’re balancing this against the risk of a pandemic and we’ve seen second and third waves of the pandemic overseas which have been absolutely devastating,” he said.
“The best way we can ensure that we don’t face those sort of situations here in Victoria and indeed in Australia is by having the highest levels of immunity in the population as quickly as we can.”
Professor Cowie said the priority was the safety of the vaccination program.
READ MORE:Just vaccinate the aged and give us our lives back
Agencies2.55pm:Canada has second case of rare blood clot after AstraZeneca jab
Canadian health authorities said Saturday the country has recorded a second case of rare but serious blood clotting linked to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, but still recommend the shot for use.
The patient, who lives in the western province of Alberta and received a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine supplied by the Serum Institute of India, “has received treatment and is recovering,” Canadian health authorities wrote on Twitter.
Canada reported its first case of blood clotting associated with low platelets on Tuesday in a Quebec woman who received the same shot.
Blood clot formations linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine “remain very rare” and Canada still believes that the vaccine’s benefits “outweigh the potential risks,” Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada said.
Canada’s health authorities added that they would “continue to monitor the use of all #COVID19 vaccines closely and examine and assess any new safety concerns.” At the end of March Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommended suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in people under the age of 55 while it evaluated the risks.
5/5 Based on all of the evidence available internationally to-date, Health Canada continues to consider that the benefits of the #AstraZeneca and COVISHIELD vaccines to protect against #COVID19 outweigh the potential risks.
— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) April 17, 2021
However Health Canada said Wednesday that according to its analysis, limiting the use of the vaccine to certain populations was not necessary for the moment.
After a slow start, Canada’s vaccine campaign is gaining momentum. To date, 23.3 percent of the Canadian population has received at least one vaccine dose according to the Covid-19 Tracker Canada website.
The country is facing a third coronavirus wave, however, that has recently forced provinces to tighten restrictions.
Canada has recorded more than 1.1 million cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and more than 23,500 deaths.
AFP
READ MORE:Blood clot death linked to vaccine
Matthew Denholm2.40pm:Albanese mocks PM over vaccine rollout
Anthony Albanese has mocked the Prime Minister’s record on the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, claiming Scott Morrison is afraid to join him on the campaign trail in Tasmania because of it.
“This has been a debacle – what I want is for Scott Morrison to take responsibility for something; anything will do,” the Labor leader said at the party’s Tasmanian election launch.
Tasmanians deserve a government that will stand up to Canberra and get them a better deal. They deserve a government that is working for them – and only @bec_white and @TasmanianLabor can deliver. pic.twitter.com/i8Fwym1uVQ
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 18, 2021
“This is a Prime Minister who wants to lead the country but doesn’t want to do anything with that leadership. This is about him seeking to … spread the blame for the failure when it comes to the vaccine rollout.
“Scott Morrison has had more than a year to prepare for the rollout of the vaccine and what we have is him giving up on the timetable….Australians want to know when they’re going to be vaccinated. It’s as simple as that.”
READ MORE:Premier’s Covid tears were just the start
Adeshola Ore2.20pm:Vaccine advice the best in the world: Hunt
Health Minister Greg Hunt has assured Australians that the country has the “strongest medical advisers” in the world after the death of a 48-year-old woman who received the AstraZeneca jab sparked fresh concerns about vaccine hesitancy.
On Friday the The Therapeutic Goods Administration has confirmed the fatal blood clotting suffered by the NSW woman was likely linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
“The point for all Australians is firstly respect for individual choice but secondly the view that we have probably the strongest medical advisers in the world and certainly we don’t believe that there are others ahead of what we have in Australia,” Mr Hunt said.
READ MORE:Diggers’ revolt over Anzac Day ‘sign up’
Adeshola Ore1.53pm:Aged care vaccine tally tops 170,000 jabs
More than 170,00 COVID vaccines have been delivered to aged-care facilities across Australia.
Chief Midwifery Officer Professor Alison McMillan said 112, 000 of those were first doses and 59,000 second doses.
“At the outset of the program it was our most vulnerable we were looking to protect and, as we know, that includes those living and residing in aged-care facilities and we are seeing very promising figures in relation to those,” she said.
Almost 1.5 million COVID vaccines have now been administered across Australia.
National Cabinet will meet tomorrow as part of a ramped-up effort to expedite the nation’s rollout.
READ MORE:‘Idiot’ Tony Abbott still under the skin of Scottish usurper
Adeshola Ore12.57pm:Twiggy backs PM’s overseas travel plan
Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest has backed Scott Morrison’s proposal to allow vaccinated Australians to travel overseas for “important purposes” like work or medical reasons and quarantine at home upon their return.
The Prime Minister today flagged that vaccinated Australians could be able travel overseas and return via home quarantine in the second half of the year, but warned the federal government would not rush the lifting of international border restrictions.
Mr Forrest, who owns the philanthropic foundation Minderoo, said it was “debilitating” for people who travel for business to be isolated in hotel quarantine when they return from overseas.
“It is simply unjust for people who must travel to support their family or country to then be penalised when home quarantine can be just as secure – if not more secure,” he said.
READ MORE: Twiggy Forrest unveils ambitious renewables target
Agencies12.30pm:Djokovic to host Serbia tournament a year after Covid fiasco
World number one Novak Djokovic will relaunch the Serbia Open tournament in Belgrade on Monday, less than a year after a charity event he organised in the city ended in fiasco.
Djokovic was among several players to test positive after last year’s event, which was held in front of thousands of fans with no social distancing.
Organisers insist that the forthcoming ATP clay court event scheduled for April 19-25 will be very different -- no fans will be allowed and Covid protocols will apply.
The Novak Tennis Centre in Belgrade will also stage a second clay court event from May 24 on the eve of Roland Garros.
Apart from Djokovic, other top players in Belgrade this week event will include Italy’s Matteo Berrettini as well as Russian sensation Aslan Karatsev who made the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year.
According to tennis expert Nebojsa Viskovic, organising the tournament by the book is crucial to revamp the world number one’s tarnished reputation as a host.
Months after tennis went into lockdown last March, Djokovic launched an ill-fated charity competition in Belgrade.
The Adria Tour packed in 4,000 spectators, players shook hands and took selfies with fans, and ball boys and girls handled sweaty towels.
Djokovic and other tennis stars including Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev were heavily criticised after being photographed partying shirtless at a teeming Belgrade night club.
The inevitable happened. Djokovic and his wife Jelena were among a clutch of people linked to the event to test positive for the virus -- Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki also falling ill.
The tournament -- branded by the media as a “coronavirus horror show” -- was abruptly cancelled because of the infections, Djokovic later saying he was “deeply sorry” that the tournament “caused harm”.
AFP
READ MORE:French Open 2021: Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios out of tournament
Matthew Denholm 12.05pm:Premier’s tears over Covid crisis
Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has revealed he broke down in tears on more than occasion during last year’s Covid crisis, as he launched the Liberal’s state election campaign, promising “strong, stable majority government”.
Mr Gutwein dwelt on the state’s relative success in dealing with the pandemic, despite its older, more vulnerable population, and in recovering quickly from the resulting recession.
“We laid out a clear plan that firstly kept people safe and then secondly began the rebuilding of our economy,” Mr Gutwein said, claiming Tasmania’s Covid response was the nation’s best.
“By the middle of last year, Tasmania was one of the safest places in the country. However, Treasury were forecasting an economy in recession and an unemployment rate peaking at 12.25 per cent.
“We used our strong balance sheet to rollout record levels of support and that plan on any measure has worked. Tasmania is now one of the safest places on the planet, our economy is growing again and jobs have returned to pre-pandemic levels.”
The premier, who took over the reins of government just weeks before Covid struck last year, revealed his much-publicised breakdown in parliament when speaking of job losses caused by Covid shutdowns was not an isolated incident.
READ MORE: No minority government on our watch, says Tas Premier
Adeshola Ore11.55am: State funeral for Andrew Peacock
Scott Morrison has confirmed a state funeral will be held for former Liberal Party leader Andrew Peacock who died on Friday, aged 82.
The Prime Minister said he had offered the Peacock family a state memorial service that will be held in Australia. A private funeral will be held for Mr Peacock this week in the US, where he had been living since the mid 1990s. He served as Australia’s ambassador to the US from 1997 to 1999.
Mr Morrison paid tribute to Mr Peacock, describing him as a “great Australian.”
“He made a great contribution to this country. He also made a great contribution to our region. He was instrumental in the independence of Papua New Guinea,” he said
“That is something he was held in great esteem for across the region. He was an extremely compassionate man, an extremely charismatic individual.”
READ MORE: Andrew Peacock dead at 82
Rhiannon Down11.50am:NSW reclassifies three cases as community transmission
NSW has recorded zero new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, though three cases in one family in hotel quarantine have been reclassified as community transmission.
It comes as NSW Health discovered on Friday that seven people in hotel quarantine, from two family groups, had tested positive for the same strain of the virus.
“This suggests there may have been transmission of the infection within hotel quarantine,” health authorities said on Saturday.
NSW Health said the two families had arrived from different countries and different days and had stayed in adjacent rooms on the 12th floor of the Adina Apartments Hotel, Town Hall.
The state also recorded six new cases in returned travellers up to 8pm last night, bringing NSW’s total number of cases to 5187.
There were 550 #Covid19Vaccines administered by NSW Health in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. The total number of vaccines administered by NSW Health is now 173,852.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) April 18, 2021
Health authorities carried out 8088 tests yesterday and 550 COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the same period.
READ MORE:Chris Kenny — Welcome to Australia: prison island
Adeshola Ore11.31am:We’re in no rush to open borders: PM
Scott Morrison has flagged that vaccinated Australians could be able travel overseas and return via home quarantine in the second half of the year, but warned the federal government will not rush the lifting of international border restrictions all in one go.
The Prime Minister last week said that his first goal to reconnect Australia to the rest of the world would be allowing vaccinated Australians to go overseas for “important purposes” like work and medical reasons and go into home quarantine on their return.
“If we can get in a position in the second half of the year to have Australians for essential purpose travel and return to the country without going into hotel quarantine, if they have been vaccinated, it is a good incentive to get vaccinated,” he said on Sunday.
But Mr Morrison said Australia was in “no hurry” to reopen international borders, warning any lifting of restrictions would happen incrementally.
“I assure Australians that I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country which is so different to the rest of the world,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the government was in the planning stages to understand the health risks of reopening international borders.
From midnight, Australians and New Zealanders will be able to travel between both countries without needing to spend time in quarantine.
READ MORE:PM strikes $1bn energy deal with SA
Adeshola Ore10.58am:Morrison announces $1bn energy deal with SA
Scott Morrison has announced a $1bn energy deal with South Australia which he says will improve affordability and reliability.
“It is about having the gas that is needed to drive manufacturing and support industry and support the transition that we are making to the new energy economy into the future,” the Prime Minister said in Clare, South Australia.
“We are doing everything we can do to ensure that South Australians get a lower cost, more affordable, more reliable energy to support lower costs for their households and their family.”
Watch the press conference live:
Adeshola Ore10.22am:Vaccinated Australians looking at greater freedoms
Employment Minister Stuart Robert has flagged that vaccinated Australians could be allowed to travel overseas and return via home quarantine before the “vast majority” of the population has been vaccinated.
It comes after there was confusion about the government’s position on borders, with Health Minister Greg Hunt warning even if the entire population had been vaccinated the international borders could remain shut. But Scott Morrison later said his priority was to allow vaccinated Australians to go overseas “for important purpose”, like work and medical reasons, and go into home quarantine on their return.
Mr Robert said Mr Morrison had made it “quite clear” that the federal government was working through options to open the borders.
“One of the challenges, of course, is if we vaccinate the population, it is voluntary. We would hope that the vast majority of Australians would be vaccinated but if only 80 per cent or 90 per cent you would still have 10per cent who are not vaccinated over the age of 18 and therefore unprotected,” he told the ABC’s Insiders on Saturday.
“That leaves open the opportunity for Covid to still roll trough the community. That’s just a reality of when people have choices as they should in Australia.”
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Matthew Denholm9.55am:Outrage over Liberals’ election spending on pamphlets
Taxpayers have funded Liberal brochures being distributed to all Tasmanian homes during the state election campaign, in an alleged “scandalous” abuse of the public purse and breach of expenditure rules.
The Weekend Australian has confirmed the glossy, multi-page pamphlets, featuring the Liberal Party’s election slogan, were paid for out of Liberal MPs’ resource allocation. Rules for the use of these taxpayer funds — $10,000 per MP — state they can be spent only on “research and support, or equipment”.
While this can include printed material detailing policy, the rules state this cannot be deemed election material. “This is a scandalous misuse of taxpayer funds and is typical behaviour of an arrogant government,” said Labor campaign spokeswoman Sarah Lovell.
“Obviously, there are very serious questions to answer, and the fact is the Liberals thought they could get away with it.”
Liberal campaign spokesman Michael Ferguson confirmed the use of MPs’ resource allocation, which combined could amount to $150,000. However, he denied any breach of the Tasmanian government Members’ Handbook rules.
Read the full story here.
Louise Callaghan9.25am:Balding Britons using Covid cover to boost transplant tourism
When David, 35, a lawyer, began losing his hair five years ago, he didn’t think there was much he could do about it. If he had a hair transplant, he knew it could take weeks or months before his head looked normal again. He couldn’t imagine facing his colleagues and clients in court with a conspicuously red-raw scalp.
The pandemic has changed all that for David — which is not his real name — and for other British men and women who have taken advantage of lockdown to slip away for cheap cosmetic surgery, from Botox and hair transplants to liposuction and abdominoplasty (”tummy tucks”), in clinics in Istanbul.
Afterwards, they can go home and recover in social isolation, out of sight of colleagues and friends. Some, unlike David, have allegedly financed their transplant tourism using pandemic cash grants from the government.
It emerged last week that those travelling from the UK to have hair transplants or even Botox injections are unlikely to be breaking stay-at-home regulations.
Though the Department of Health and Social care advise that it is only possible to travel abroad to access medical treatment or attend a clinical appointment if it is “reasonably necessary”, officials confirmed that any procedure or therapy carried out or recommended by a suitably qualified technician was likely to qualify.
In a year during which millions across the UK have been unable to travel abroad to see their families or go on holiday, it seems it is possible to leave the country legally for lip fillers or a Brazilian Butt Lift.
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Adeshola Ore8.50am:mRNA facility could speed up rollout: Andrews
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says Australia could “absolutely” build a facility to produce mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna to speed up the nation’s COVID vaccine rollout.
Australia does not currently have technology to produce MrNA vaccines at scale.
Ms Andrews said medical products were outlined as a priority as part of the government’s manufacturing plan it unveiled in October last year.
“In medical products, one of the things we identified as a sub-sector we needed to look at was mRNA manufacturing capability. So that work is already happening,” she said.
Asked if an mrNA plant could feasibly be built, Ms Andrews replied “absolutely.”
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Adeshola Ore8.35am:Work underway on home quarantine plan: Andrews
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says the federal government wants home quarantining of vaccinated Australians to happen as quickly as possible, but has stopped short of setting a timeline for reopening international borders.
This week Scott Morrison on Thursday revealed his “first goal” to reconnect Australia to the rest of the world would be allowing vaccinated Australians to go overseas “for important purpose”, like work and medical reasons, and go into home quarantine on their return But he also warned that Australia could see 1000 cases a week or more of COVID-19 once the international border was reopened.
Ms Andrews said “work was well underway” on the plan for a home quarantine scheme and re-opening the international border.
“We are looking to open international borders as quickly as we possibly can but the role of the government is to make sure we are keeping Australians safe and secure,” she told Sky News.
“We are working across government, with many agencies, to ensure we are ready and able to support the opening of borders as and when that happens. We will be led by the health advice.”
Ms Andrews said the government would not “leap into solutions” without having all of the health evidence.
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Agencies7.40am:Global deaths pass three million
The number of people who have died from COVID-19 around the world passes three million on Saturday, according to an AFP tally, despite vaccination campaigns.
After a slight lull in March, daily death tolls have been increasing, with an average of 12,000 deaths a day last week.
In New Delhi, a record 24,000 coronavirus cases were reported in a single day and its leader warns of a “grim” battle ahead, as major cities go into a weekend lockdown across the country.
India now leads the world in the number of new cases and the international Red Cross says the speed at which cases are rising across South Asia is “truly frightening”.
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Dow Jones7.15am:Americans flying home for faster jab
Frustrated by slow and uncertain vaccination drives around the world, some of the nine million Americans living abroad are coming home to get their COVID-19 shots.
For many, the risks of a long journey home are worth the reward of a vaccine that offers protection and peace of mind. But the trip also comes with the anguish and moral ambiguity of leaving behind friends, colleagues and even spouses who might not get access to a shot for months because they don’t hold a passport from the world’s wealthiest country.
“I’ve definitely seen people talk about vaccine tourism,” said Chloe Zeitounian, a 32-year-old American actor in London who visited the US earlier this month. “That’s basically what I did.”
The US and UK are roughly on par in vaccination rates, but recent supply disruptions have slowed Britain’s rollout for younger people. The country is also relying heavily on a shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC. Regulators here have restricted people under 30 from receiving it because of a possible link to rare but potentially serious blood clots. Ms. Zeitounian preferred to avoid that one, which isn’t distributed in the US
The Wall Street Journal
Ellie Dudley7am:Government’s handling of Australians stranded overseas blasted
International law expert Geoffrey Robertson QC says Australia will “lose its reputation as a supporter of human rights” if the federal government fails to act on a ruling from the United Nations to bring stranded Aussies home.
The UN Human Rights Committee on Friday ruled the Australian government must “facilitate and ensure” the prompt return of two Australian men.
The case had been brought before the UNHRC under the guidance of Mr Robertson, as part of FreeAndOpenAustralia.org group (formerly StrandedAussies.org).
It argued that Australia had breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by preventing their return home because of “arbitrary caps on airline travel”.
“Under international law, the government does have a duty to get people back to their native land,” Mr Robertson told The Australian.
“The Australian government has always insisted and always taken an international stand that it‘s in favour of human rights. It will seem hypocritical if they fail to act on this response.”
Read the full story here.
Agencies6.45am:France to impose quarantine on arrivals
France will impose a 10-day quarantine on arrivals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa over concerns about variants of the coronavirus, the prime minister’s office announced Saturday.
Although flights from Argentina, Chile and South Africa will not be suspended, all arrivals from those countries will have to submit to the quarantine or face fines.
Flights from Brazil were suspended until at least next Friday because of concern about the P1 variant of the coronavirus, which is more contagious than the original strain and can also reinfect those who have had the original virus.
Justifying the decision not to ban flights from the other three countries, Paris said that those variants had not reached the levels observed in Brazil.
The new quarantine measures will be gradually introduced over the coming days until they are fully enforced by next Saturday.
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