Bushfire, borders and vaccine on agenda at national cabinet

Scott Morrison will accept all recommendations of the bushfire royal commission, with the response to be discussed at national cabinet on Friday.

Bushfire royal commissioner Andrew Mcintosh. Picture: Patrick Woods

Scott Morrison will accept all recommendations of the bushfire royal commission, with the response to be discussed at national cabinet on Friday along with the reopening of borders and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The commission made 80 recommendations, including new powers for the commonwealth to intervene in natural disasters, deploy the Australian Defence Force more swiftly and override states in “exceptional” circumstances.

It also called for the creation of a new “authoritative disaster ­advisory body” to improve the co-ordination between governments, an all-hazard em­ergency warning app and a ­national fleet of water bombers.

The Black Summer bushfires scorched 24 million hectares of land, killed 33 people and destroyed more than 3000 homes. The Australian understands the government’s response to the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangement’s final report, handed down last month, will focus on enhancing Emergency Management Australia and creating a resilience relief agency.

Also on the agenda at national cabinet will be the Finkel National Contact Tracing Review that is stress-testing the systems of all ­jurisdictions, the rollout of corona­virus vaccines, caps on international air passenger arrivals and federation reform.

The Prime Minister this week said the government was considering ways to open Australia to Taiwan, Singapore and parts of China, but said it would “proceed cautiously” given the rising coronavirus case numbers in Europe and the US. “(We) are looking at what alternative arrangements could be had to channel visitors through appropriate quarantine arrangements for low-risk countries,” he said.

Leaders will also discuss the goal of reopening the nation’s internal borders by Christmas.

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, John Skerritt, on Wednesday confirmed the news first reported by The Australian that Pfizer had been granted a provisional determination for its vaccine, which fast-tracks the approval process.

The regulator confirmed it expects to be able to approve the first coronavirus vaccine in late January, with jabs of five million people to begin in March.

Josh Frydenberg on Thursday said the vaccine developments were a positive sign that life could soon return to normal. “That (vaccine) implementation plan is now being worked through and will be discussed with the premiers tomorrow,” the Treasurer told Sky News.

“We’ve seen positive reports of the Pfizer vaccine … but the outlook is positive and it’s giving people hope, as it should.”

The vaccine distribution process, to include hospitals, respiratory clinics and general practices being used as part of the immunisation plan, will also be discussed.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday called on national cabinet to release a scorecard showing “how far each state and territory has progressed against the reopening plan.”

ACCI chief economist Ross Lambie said with consumer confidence lifting, a scorecard would give a boost to the economy.

He urged all states and territories to “ease remaining border restrictions by the end of November”.

“We should also be entering COVID normal trading con­ditions by the end of this month to take advantage of the December period, the most important of the year,” he said.