Politics live news Australia: Scott Morrison says ‘we will not import the virus’ from India, international students are next priority
Scott Morrison dismisses calls to repatriate sick citizens, saying the government will not import the virus into Australia as he reveals ‘next step’.
- We will not import the virus: PM
- Qantas launches probe over mercy flight testing
- Treasurer dodges tax cuts questions
- Questions raised over India repatriation flight screening
- Israeli PM justifies Gaza tower attack
- India lockdown after ‘superspreader election’
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the day’s political events and coronavirus response.
Scott Morrison has dismissed calls to repatriate citizens who have contracted Covid in India, saying the government will not import the virus into Australia, while revealing the return of international students was now the priority. The PM also confirmed the federal government is working closely with Qantas as the airline reviews its use of a testing lab in India, following reports that three Australians bumped off the first repatriation flight from India due to positive tests have since tested negative to the virus. Meanwhile parts of India have been ordered into lockdown over a superspreading election event that has seen cases spike even higher. And Israel’s prime minister has defended the bombing of a tower housing foreign media outlets in Gaza as the conflict escalates.
Simon Benson, Joe Kelly11pm:PM pulled both ways on borders
An overwhelming majority of voters back a Fortress Australia international border policy and want them to remain closed until the global pandemic is under control, as Scott Morrison faces calls from business leaders and a ginger group of his own inner-city Liberal MPs to reopen the country as soon as possible.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows 73 per cent of voters support the Morrison government’s approach and believe the international borders should remain closed until at least the middle of next year.
The government is facing growing calls from some quarters to shift the national discussion to how Australians can safely live with the coronavirus once the international borders are opened or risk the country falling behind the rest of the world.
Ben Packham 10.15pm:Kean rejects PM’s neutral stance over Taiwan
NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has taken a swipe at Scott Morrison over his refusal to say whether Australia supported Taiwan in its struggle against China.
Mr Kean, who has regularly clashed with the Prime Minister on environmental and energy issues, told the NSW Young Liberals Ball on Saturday night that the Chinese Communist Party posed a “challenge to our values and our way of life”.
He said Australia should be prepared to call out the CCP’s threats to international law and human rights wherever they occurred.
Simon Benson 9.30pm:Voters rate budget the best since Costello
Josh Frydenberg has handed down the most well received budget since John Howard and Peter Costello but has fallen short of delivering the government an electoral bounce, with a federal election looming within the next 12 months.
An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian shows widespread approval for last Tuesday’s big-spending budget, with 44 per cent of voters claiming it would be good for the economy as it continues toward a post-COVID-19 recovery.
With only 15 per cent of voters claiming it would be bad, the margin represents the greatest gap between the two measures since 2007, prior to the Howard government losing office.
Nicholas Jensen 8.45pm:Remote schools deficient: Pearson
Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says teachers in Australia’s most remote schools are not properly equipped to provide the quality teaching that disadvantaged students need, arguing that the country’s educational establishment has thrown the challenge in the “too hard basket”.
Speaking ahead of his address at the Centre for Independent Studies, Mr Pearson said that calls to simply hold higher expectations of Indigenous students without giving them the tools for success were hollow and misplaced.
“Effective instruction is the keystone of school improvement,” said Mr Pearson, warning that “there can be no closing the gap if Australia’s Indigenous students don’t get the same access to effective teaching practice”.
David Murray8pm:CCC is ‘out of control’: Newman
Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman has accused the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission of pursuing small and “esoteric” investigations and prosecutions while criminal gangs go unchecked.
Mr Newman claims the CCC is “out of control and unaccountable … An organisation with extraordinary powers chasing mouse poop whilst criminal gangs and organised crime have flourished”.
The scathing criticism comes after the CCC last week released its Investigation Arista report that found the Queensland Police Service “engaged in discriminatory recruitment practices” in a drive for women to make up half of all new police recruits.
Ewin Hannan 7.15pm:Minister bans firm over truck safety breach
A Queensland construction company has been banned from tendering for federal government work for one month and a second company issued a formal warning, following investigations by the federal building watchdog.
Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash issued the one-month exclusion sanction against MCP (AUS) Pty Ltd after a mobile concrete pump truck it was operating toppled while working on the joint Queensland and Commonwealth government-funded Toowoomba Second Range Crossing project.
The concrete pump truck with a 60-metre boom had been incorrectly set up, resulting in the boom overbalancing and the crane tipping over. No one was injured in the incident. MCP pleaded guilty in the Toowoomba Magistrates’ Court to failing to comply with its health and safety duty and was fined $50,000.
Ben Packham6.30pm:Business wants China talks, not war: Willox
The nation’s peak industry association has urged the federal government to calm tensions with China through “negotiation, common sense and diplomacy”, but not at the expense of Australia’s national interests.
In a speech to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox warned the nation was facing a long-feared “day of reckoning” between its security and economic relationships.
He said tensions could escalate, and called for an end to inflammatory language, such as that used by Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo, who warned “the drums of war” were beating.
“On the security front, of course, the reality is things could also get worse, far worse, before they get better, but that would only happen after negotiation, common sense and diplomacy fundamentally fail,” he said last Thursday. “Let us all work and use our links to ensure it does not come to that. You will hear no talk of ‘drums of war’ from Australian business.”
Mr Willox’s comments were backed by other prominent corporate figures, including Warwick Smith, the former Liberal MP who now runs the Business Council’s international engagement efforts.
AFP 5.45pm:Scare stories lower jab rates
False claims that COVID-19 vaccines can cause infertility are discouraging Americans from receiving the shots and leaving health professionals to persuade patients that scare stories they have read online are unfounded.
Among the worst examples of such misinformation spread on Facebook are that immunised men can render unvaccinated women sterile through sex, that 97 per cent of vaccine recipients will become infertile and that the jabs could be “sterilising an entire generation”.
With vaccine uptake already slowing, the claims are a threat to the President Joe Biden administration’s goal of achieving herd immunity in the US.
Sarosh Bana5.00pm:Modi pushes his pandemic narrative via propaganda
Comment: Struck by the global opprobrium of its ruinous bungling of India’s fight against the coronavirus, the Narendra Modi government is frantically making all attempts at salvaging its image, both national and internationally.
The government has been especially affronted by a report in The Australian, republished from the UK’s The Times and headlined ‘Modi leads India out of lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse’, and by criticism by London’s Guardian newspaper.
The Australian article opened with: “Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions in India, with its crowd-loving PM basking while citizens suffocate. This is the story of how it all went so terribly wrong.”
While the deeply image-conscious government has scrupulously sanitised domestic coverage of events by subjugating India’s mainstream media, it finds it cannot similarly tame coverage in Australia, and elsewhere.
For a government that craves universal endorsement, it has been particularly chastened by a reproving foreign press and international agencies like the UN Human Rights Office, and also by donor countries’ preference to channel medical and financial aid to India through agencies other than the Indian government.
READ the full story
Joseph Lam4.45pm:Western Australia to triple test quarantine guests
Overseas travellers who quarantine in West Australian hotels will now be tested three times under new COVID-19 policy introduced by the state government.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan reportedly described the move as an extra level of assurance.
“The reason for that is our test results come through quicker now, our systems have improved, and that means we can test a person just the day before they leave rather than two days before they leave hotel quarantine,” Mr McGowan told the ABC.
“It’s a different safety measure we’ve put in place.”
Quarantine guests will now be tested on their first, fifth and 13th day in hotel quarantine. Previously tests were conducted on days two and 12.
READ MORE:Where’s this woman been all our lives?
Agencies4.30pm:Wembley comes alive with noise and colour of fans’ return
Wembley Stadium came alive with the largest sports crowd in England since the coronavirus pandemic hit on Saturday as 22,000 spectators descended on the home of English football to witness Leicester lift the FA Cup for the first time.
Youri Tielemans’s stunning strike that beat Chelsea 1-0 was met with a wave of noise from the 6,000 Foxes fans behind the goal where the ball had nestled in the top corner.
There were just as jubilant scenes when Chelsea saw a late equaliser ruled out after a VAR review and the final whistle went.
“It’s fantastic for the club,” said Leicester fan Alan Edwards. “To have fans at the game as well. It’s a shame we can’t have 40,000 here, but it’s brilliant to have so many here. You can hear the atmosphere.” The final was the third test event held at Wembley with fans, as thanks to a mass rollout of vaccinations, as restrictions across Britain are beginning to ease.
“You can see the difference the fans make for us,” said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.
“The energy they gave us, it felt like there was 30,000 of them in here today. With the noise they made, we felt that energy and that really pushed us over the line.
“That is what football is about. That connection between the players and the fans.” The return of fans in larger numbers did not come without issues. As players from both sides took the knee before the game began as a sign of protest against racial injustice, there were audible boos from supporters at both ends of the stadium.
Supporters had to show evidence of a negative test for Covid-19 in the 48 hours prior to kick-off and were seated in a socially distanced manner.
Even for a very different cup final, tradition was maintained as the hymn “Abide with Me” was sung by a choir before kick-off, while Prince William was introduced to both teams in his role as president of the FA.
AFP
READ MORE:Leicester manager hails ‘historical’ FA Cup victory over Chelsea
Evin Priest4.10pm:It’s party time again as Premier lifts Covid restrictions
Restrictions in Sydney forced by a recent COVID-19 case will be scrapped at midnight, health officials have announced.
Earlier this month, a man in his 50s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and his wife, became the first locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in NSW in more than a month.
It forced a raft of restrictions in greater Sydney, including a limit of 20 on the number of visitors allowed at a home.
Masks also became mandatory on public transport.
“As there has been no further transmission detected in relation to the two locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the temporary COVID-safe measures in place for the greater Sydney area will not be extended beyond 12.01am on Monday, May 17,” NSW Health said in a statement on Sunday.
READ the full story
Rebecca Le May3.45pm:No special treatment for returning cricketers: PM
Cricketers flying back to Australia from COVID-ravaged India won’t take the place of others seeking to return, Scott Morrison says, revealing the NSW government has been compelled to accommodate them.
Players and coaches participating in the Indian Premier League fled to the Maldives after the T20 tournament was suspended because of the worsening crisis, and are expected to return to Australia in coming days.
The Prime Minister insisted on Sunday no one would miss out because of the cricketers’ repatriation when asked by a reporter about whether they had asked for “any special dispensation”.
“They haven’t been given any, I can tell you that,” Mr Morrison told media in Queensland.
“They’ll come in additional to the cap in New South Wales.
“The New South Wales government is happy for them to come in over the cap; that is something we insisted upon and they were happy to agree with that.
“But they will come back under their own steam, on their own ticket, and they won’t be taking the spot in quarantine of any other Australian .”
Mr Morrison praised the NSW government for accepting a high number of returning Australians, saying the state had “done all of the heavy lifting”.
READ MORE:New evidence filed in Stuart MacGill kidnap case
Agencies3.20pm:UK health service under pressure despite Boris’ pandemic promises
In April last year, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the doctors and nurses who saved his life after he spent days in hospital intensive care with Covid-19.
In an emotional address on television, he promised all the necessary funds for the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which is Europe’s biggest employer.
But 12 months on, frontline health workers said that promise rings hollow and they feel “betrayed”, as experts warn the system is imploding for lack of investment.
Even before the global health crisis hit, the NHS -- a cherished national institution funded by taxation and providing free healthcare -- was already under severe strain.
“The NHS had just finished the most difficult winter. We were behind on delays of treatment, on all metrics,” said Stuart Tuckwood, nursing officer for the public sector union Unison.
Hospitals then had to cope with two devastating waves of Covid-19 that stretched staff to the limit and put capacity at breaking point.
Since Britain’s outbreak began, more than 127,000 people have died after testing positive for the disease -- one of the worst death tolls in the world.
Staff are physically and mentally exhausted, said Tuckwood.
“Then the government has indicated that all it’s going to offer is a one-percent raise for NHS workers. It feels like a massive betrayal,” he told AFP.
The proposed pay increase has caused anger far and wide, prompting calls from the main opposition Labour party -- which set up the NHS in 1948 -- for a much bigger award.
Even pop star Dua Lipa weighed in at this week’s Brit Awards, saying frontline workers should be given a “fair pay rise”.
A British Medical Association survey of 2,100 staff indicated that more than one in five plan to leave the NHS and change careers because of Covid-related stress and fatigue.
Nurses are widely viewed as underpaid, while auxiliaries and other staff earn even less, with many living below the poverty line.
AFP
READ MORE:David Cameron rode the wave of Covid to target the NHS on behalf of Lex Greensill
Joseph Lam3.00pm:South Australia records zero cases
South Australia has recorded no new COVID-19 cases after performing 3249 tests in the past 24 hours.
South Australian COVID-19 update 16/5/21. For more information, go to https://t.co/mYnZsGpayo or contact the South Australian COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787. pic.twitter.com/I1lXhIDOt9
— SA Health (@SAHealth) May 16, 2021
READ MORE:South Australia Police target non check-ins
Christine Kellett2.45pm:We will not import the virus: PM
Scott Morrison has dismissed calls to repatriate citizens who have contracted Covid in India, saying the government will not import the virus into Australia.
“Making sure we have a rigorous testing regime is very important and I have seen the suggestions from others who seem to think that we can put people who have tested Covid positive on planes and bring them into Australia,” Mr Morrison said. “I mean that just doesn’t make any sense.”
The PM said Australia was “still many months away” from being able to allow travel to safe countries without a strict quarantine system, and the return of international students was now the priority.
“We are always working on the next step and the next step is how we can safely have international students come back,” Mr Morrison said on Sunday.
“I welcome the fact that universities are stumping up to work with state governments to put those facilities in place to support those customers coming back, the students coming back.”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese on Sunday said Australians who had caught Covid while stranded in India had the federal government to blame, because it had not acted sooner to bring them home.
READ MORE:Qantas successfully trials CommonPass COVID app
Matthew Denholm2.35pm:David O’Byrne confirms Tas Labor party leadership contest
Tasmanian Labor MP David O’Byrne has confirmed he will stand for the party leadership.
Mr O’Byrne praised outgoing leader Rebecca White, rejecting suggestions she had been forced out by the same left wing union leaders who had decided to install him in her place.
If elected at a party room meeting tomorrow, he said he would seek to heal the divisions within the party.
“There are challenges facing the Labor Party, there is work to do internally, we need to be a party that is united and that is focused on the issues that the Tasmanian community wants us to focus on,” he said
“We are we are at our best when we are focused on the needs of Tasmanians and we need to unite the party around that cause.”
READ MORE:Rebecca White quits Tasmanian Labor leadership in reform deal
Adeshola Ore2.20pm:Government working with Qantas as it reviews India testing lab: PM
Scott Morrison says the federal government is working with Qantas as the airline reviews its use of a testing lab in India following reports that three Australians bumped off a repatriation flight due to positive tests have since tested negative to the virus.
The half-empty mercy flight landed in Darwin on Saturday, with just 80 of a possible 150 passengers on board, after dozens tested positive or were identified as close contacts shortly before departing New Delhi. The ABC reported the laboratory, New Delhi-based CRL Diagnostics, used by the airline for the screening had its accreditation suspended by the nation’s laboratory board in April.
The Prime Minister said India was a “very difficult environment” to operate in.
“We will work closely with Qantas who are obviously conducting that testing regime as part of their process and they will get every support from us,” he said.
Mr Morrison said he was pleased that 80 Australians had already been able to return home since the government’s flight ban was lifted on Saturday.
“I hope and intend for us to get even more home,” he said.
READ MORE:India COVID crisis could hurt Australian coal, says Orica’s Sanjeev Gandhi
Agencies2.10pm:Taiwan records 180 new cases in island’s worst Covid outbreak
Taiwan ordered stricter social distancing measures for its capital and surrounding areas on Saturday after a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in a place that has so far weathered the pandemic comparatively unscathed.
Authorities raised the alert level for Taipei and New Taipei City after 180 new domestic coronavirus infections were confirmed, up from 29 cases the previous day.
The new restrictions mean no more than five people can gather indoors and 10 outdoors -- but authorities stopped short of ordering a total lockdown.
Schools, government offices, workplaces and most businesses can stay open as long as social distancing measures can be maintained and masks are worn at all times.
“We will closely monitor in the next few days the development of the epidemic and adjust (closures) accordingly,” health minister Chen Shih-chung said.
Taiwan has been hailed as a global leader in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, with just 1,500 cases, 12 deaths and minimal social distancing needed once its initial outbreak was quelled.
As a result, the island was one of the few industrialised economies to grow last year.
Taiwan has ordered millions of vaccine doses from Moderna and AstraZeneca. Only a small number of the latter have arrived and until this week public take-up of the vaccine scheme had been very low.
READ MORE:Rival histories to determine if Taiwan’s worth fighting for
Agencies1.47pm:Eurovision makes Covid-lite return in the Netherlands
The kitschy glamour of Eurovision is back, with the Dutch hosting a scaled-down, coronavirus-safe version this week after the song contest was cancelled last year.
Around 3,500 Covid-tested fans will be allowed to attend the May 22 final in Rotterdam as the return of the pageant injects some glitz into Europe’s cautious reopening.
French singer Barbara Pravi, dubbed a modern-day Edith Piaf, is the bookmakers’ favourite to end her country’s 44-year Eurovision drought, followed by Italy and Malta.
Performers will be in a special “bubble” under strict rules imposed by the Dutch government to allow the contest at the port city’s Ahoy Arena to go ahead.
“We don’t take lightly the responsibility of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest at this challenging time,” said Eurovision executive supervisor Martin Oesterdahl.
Known for its flamboyant costumes and cheesy songs, Eurovision is watched by more than 180 million people in over four dozen countries as far afield as Australia.
But the televisual pageant was scrapped for the first time in its six-decade history last year as the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping the globe.
On Saturday, organisers announced that one of the members of the Polish delegation had tested positive for Covid-19 and that the whole delegation -- including singer Rafal Brzozowski -- has gone into quarantine.
This means they will not be able to perform live at Thursday’s second semifinal when a recording of their last rehearsal will be shown.
Artists from most of the 39 countries involved are travelling to the Netherlands, but some -- such as Australia -- will take part via pre-recorded video.
AFP
READ MORE:Montaigne keeps her distance to sing Technicolour at Eurovision
Joseph Lam1.27pm:Palestine protester charged over Town Hall climb
A man who waved the Palestinian flag above Sydney Town Hall after scaling the heritage-listed building’s scaffolding has been charged.
The man, 20, was one of thousands of protesters who marched across Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday calling for support of Palestinian territories.
The man was arrested about 5pm on Saturday, charged with trespassing into closed land without an excuse.
He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at the Downing Centre court in June.
READ MORE: The moment this conflict really kicked off
Joseph Lam1.10pm:Victoria records four new cases
Victoria has recorded four new cases of COVID-19 overnight among overseas returned travellers in hotel quarantine meanwhile Western Australia has recorded no new cases.
Reported yesterday: No new local cases and 4 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 15, 2021
- 3,098 vaccine doses were administered
- 14,270 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/CFetBzvAm5
The nation has recorded eight new cases overnight, all of whom returned from overseas and were already in quarantine.
Media statement: COVID-19 update 16 May 2021 https://t.co/MUlzFDEEBS
— WA Health (@WAHealth) May 16, 2021
READ MORE:Quarantine boss quits over bungles
Agencies12.50pm:China bars Everest climbers
State media reports that Beijing has barred all attempts to scale Mount Everest from its territory to avoid risks of contamination by climbers coming from Nepal.
Nestled between India and Tibet, Nepal has been hit hard by a second virus wave -- just as the Himalayan state hoped to restart tourism this summer and make up for the total loss suffered in 2020.
READ MORE:Why China’s stranglehold on rare minerals could cost the earth
Angelica Snowden12.30pm:Merlino in agreeance with Sutton over outbreak acceptance
Victoria’s acting premier says he agrees with the state’s chief health officer Australia should accept COVID-19 breakouts in order to open up the country again.
James Merlino made the comments after a recording obtained by The Age revealed Brett Sutton believed Australians had become complacent about COVID-19 due to the country’s virtual eradication of the virus.
“We need to somehow communicate to the public that we’ve gotten to a place of complacency because we’ve driven transmission to zero but we will face newly emerging transmission, and a critical juncture where we need to make a call on letting it run,” Mr Sutton said.
“I think that’ll be when we’ve got as high vaccination coverage for the adult population as we can possibly get to, so everyone being offered it, and building that confidence in vaccines as much as we can ... then we need to really say ‘look, we can’t sit on our hands here’,” he said.
Mr Merlino told reporters on Sunday he has “repeatedly” made similar comments.
“I’ve been saying repeatedly what the health minister has been saying, you know, we’re able to move towards COVID normal,” Mr Merlino said.
“We’re getting there step by step, but it’s always dependent on the success of the rollout of the commonwealth Vaccine Program, the efficacy of the vaccine in terms of transmission and in making sure that we have an alternative quarantine hub,” he said.
READ MORE:Western Australia’s hotel quarantine boss Robyn Lawrence quits after series of bungles
Joseph Lam12.25pm:ACT records zero cases
The Australian Capital Territory has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 following the 409 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.
ACT COVID-19 update (16 May 2021)
— ACT Health (@ACTHealth) May 16, 2021
â—¾ï¸Cases today: 0
â—¾ï¸Active cases: 0
â—¾ï¸Total cases: 124
â—¾ï¸Recovered: 121
â—¾ï¸Lives lost: 3
â—¾ï¸Test results (past 24 hours): 409
â—¾ï¸Negative tests: 205,745
â—¾ï¸Total COVID-19 vaccinations: 38,409
â„¹ï¸ https://t.co/YGW9pOHG3epic.twitter.com/tX3ICi4cGl
READ MORE:What’s on horizon for the ship of state
Angelica Snowden12.20pm:Federal government stalls on Vic’s international student plans
Victoria was the first state to submit plans for the arrival of international students after NSW and Queensland followed in declaring their intentions to kick start the multi-billion dollar industry, the state’s acting premier said.
But despite the Victorian plans also being signed off by the state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton there is no indication yet whether or not the federal government intends to support the proposal, James Merlino said.
“The proposal that we put to the federal government meets the criteria that the Commonwealth have set, that is separate from hotel quarantine, industry pays,” Mr Merlino said.
“We’ve done all of the things that the commonwealth have asked and yes, that proposal has gone through public health,” he said.
“Nothing (has been) confirmed by the commonwealth yet. There are ongoing discussions every day, including meetings held on Friday between state officials and commonwealth officials.”
Mr Merlino said he was “hopeful of a positive outcome”, after an initial plan earlier this year was rejected.
He said he “understood other states” had submitted proposals too.
“We are all asking the commonwealth for the same thing,” he said.
“We need to focus on getting vulnerable Australians and permanent residents home. But we also need a small proportion, whether it’s international students, whether it’s film crews with themselves, other skills migrants that we need… to allow them to come into the country.
“The ball is in the commonwealth’s court.”
READ MORE:Overseas student lockout adds to universities’ domestic woes
Agencies12.05pm:Olympics a ‘suicide mission’, says Japan’s e-commerce giant
Holding the Tokyo Olympics this summer would be a “suicide mission” as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the world, the head of Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten has warned.
“It’s dangerous to host the big international event from all over the world,” CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said in an interview with CNN.
“So, the risk is too big and... I’m against having the Tokyo Olympics this year,” Mikitani said, describing the Games as “a suicide mission”.
On Friday, Japan extended a coronavirus state of emergency as the nation is battling a fourth wave of virus infections.
The surge has put pressure on the country’s healthcare system, with medical professionals repeatedly warning about shortages and burnout.
With just over 10 weeks until the Games open on July 23, public opinion remains opposed, with most favouring a further delay or cancellation.
On Friday, a petition to cancel the Tokyo Olympics with more than 351,000 signatures was submitted to the city’s governor.
Mikitani, who has been critical about the government’s handling of the pandemic and hosting the Tokyo Games this year, said it was not too late to scrap the event, saying: “Everything is possible.” But organisers say they can safely hold the Games thanks to virus countermeasures and point to a string of successful recent test events, including some featuring overseas athletes.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also told reporters on Friday: “It is possible to hold safe and secure Games. We want to firmly go ahead with preparations.”
READ MORE:Swimming, Sydney Open: Olympic stars tune up for Tokyo Games
NCA Newswire11.50am:Australia will need to make a call on ‘letting COVID run’: Sutton
Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton says Australia needs to come to terms with “letting COVID run” once vaccinations are available to the whole population, joining a growing chorus questioning Australia’s hard stance on keeping the international border closed.
In recordings obtained by The Age of an event in April, Professor Sutton said Australia needed to accept the reality there would be cases of COVID-19 once borders reopened.
“We need to somehow communicate to the public that we’ve gotten to a place of complacency because we’ve driven transmissionto zero but we will face newly emerging transmission, and a critical juncture where we need to make a call on letting it run,” he said.
“I think that’ll be when we’ve got as high vaccination coverage for the adult population as we can possibly get to, so everyone being offered it, and building that confidence in vaccines as much as we can … then we need to really say ‘look, we can’t sit on our hands here’.”
Professor Sutton said Australians needed to “step up” and get vaccinated so the country could reopen to international arrivals to boost the education and tourism industries and allow family reunions.
His comments echo those of Australia’s former deputy chief medical officer, Nick Coatsworth, who said the idea the country could eradicate COVID-19 indefinitely was a “false idol”.
Dr Coatsworth expanded on his comments on Sunday, saying Australia needed to embrace the reality of the virus circulating on homesoil.
“I think we’ve been incredibly successful but with that success becomes a risk that we will be aiming for something that’s essentially not achievable,” he told the Today show.
“Elimination is what we’ve effectively got in Australia at the moment with no cases, but if we’re not going to get to eradication because this virus is going to be circulating in the globe for many years if not indefinitely, then at some point we need to consider that that virus will also be within our own borders and my message to the medical profession last Thursday was we need to help the community come to terms with that reality.”
READ MORE:This Covid siege mentality could change us forever
Joseph Lam11.34am:Singing, dancing as Sydney restrictions ease
When the clock strikes 12.01am on Monday Sydneysiders will once again be able to undertake the great Australian tradition of standing while having a beer in the pub as well as return to nightclub dance floors and enjoy karaoke and singing at public venues.
NSW Health on Sunday announced restrictions would ease across greater Sydney following a successful 10 days of Covid-safe measures.
“Despite extensive, ongoing investigations into the source of the two eastern suburbs cases, NSW Health has not yet identified how the initial case was exposed to the virus,” a statement from the health department read.
WATCH: Dr Natalie Klees provides a #COVID19 update for Sunday 16 May 2021: https://t.co/YdEcwrcst2
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 16, 2021
From Monday the limit on guests visiting other households will be lifted as will compulsory face mask use on public transport and for hospitality workers.
NSW Health asked that residents remain vigilant and encouraged commuters to continue to wear masks on public transport.
“As these two cases have shown, COVID-19 may re-emerge at any time, so it is important that we all continue to take practical measures to stay COVID-safe.”
READ MORE:Scientists clear the air on Covid failure
Joseph Lam11.11am:NSW records no new local cases
NSW has recorded three new cases of COVID-19 among overseas returned travellers.
The new cases bring the states total to 75, one of which remains in intensive care.
NSW performed 12,203 tests in the past 24 hours and administered 5384 COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The state has recorded 5369 cases since the pandemic began in January, 2020.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) May 16, 2021
Three new cases were acquired overseas in the same period, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,369. pic.twitter.com/akzmBAPRbq
READ MORE:Apathy a danger as winter moves in
Adeshola ore10.55am:Aussies impacted by bungled tesing deserve answers: Wong
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong says Australians in India impacted by problems with Qantas’ pre-flight screening deserve an explanation from the Morrison government.
The airline is reviewing its coronavirus screening process following reports that three Australians bumped off the first repatriation flight from India due to positive tests have since tested negative to the virus.
A half-empty mercy flight landed in Darwin on Saturday, with just 80 of a possible 150 passengers on board, after dozens tested positive or were identified as close contacts shortly before departing New Delhi. The ABC reported the laboratory used by the airline for the screening had its accreditation suspended by the nation’s laboratory board in April.
“Australians impacted and the loved ones they’re separated from deserve an explanation from the Morrison Government for this bungled process,” Senator Wong said on Facebook.
“It can’t happen again.”
A suspended lab was used for pre-flight testing before the repatriation flight.
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) May 15, 2021
The Australians impacted and the loved ones they’re separated from deserve an explanation from the Morrison Government for this bungled process.
It can’t happen again. https://t.co/ojh22D24KR
READ MORE:Indian leaders’ backing for cow dung cure-all angers doctors
Joseph Lam10.40am:Queensland ‘done over’ and ignored in budget: Albanese
The leader of the opposition says “Queensland has been done over time and time again” and the Morrison government has failed to listen to “constructive proposals’ put forward by the state.
Anthony Albanese at a press conference in Queensland on Sunday suggested by not listening to the state, less Australians have been able to return home from overseas.
“If the Federal Government had of listened to the Premier from Queensland last October, the quarantine centres that she proposed, appropriate facilities, would be built now, would be open and able to be used,” Mr Albanese said.
“The fact is that Queensland have been prepared to put forward constructive proposals, they have been rejected by Scott Morrison and his government will stop it is up to Scott Morrison to explain why Victoria, he is prepared to listen to Victoria but not prepared to listen to Queensland.”
Mr Albanese said the state had been largely missed in this year’s budget.
READ MORE:PM refuses to back Queensland Covid quarantine camp
Adeshola Ore10.40am:Qantas launches review amid alleged bungled mercy flight testing
Qantas is reviewing its coronavirus screening process following reports that three Australians bumped off the first repatriation flight from India due to positive tests have since tested negative to the virus.
The half-empty mercy flight landed in Darwin on Saturday, with just 80 of a possible 150 passengers on board, after dozens tested positive or were identified as close contacts shortly before departing New Delhi. The ABC reported the laboratory used by the airline for the screening had its accreditation suspended by the nation’s laboratory board in April.
A Qantas spokesperson said the airline was investigating if the agency it used for testing had used another local laboratory for the pre-departure tests.
“If there are concerns we will work together with DFAT to ensure the process is working as it should,” the spokesperson said.
“An accredited global diagnostic agency is used as part of the repatriation testing process. This agency is used by other airlines, multinational organisations and is also endorsed by the Indian Council of Medical Research.”
READ MORE:More than 70 people miss out on mercy flight from India due to positive COVID-19 tests
Joseph Lam10.26am:Albo slams ‘all promise, no delivery’ Morrison over India handling
Anthony Albanese has slammed the Morrison government over its handling of the COVID-19 situation in India.
The Labor leader on Sunday said it was time the nation took notice of how the Prime Minister treated Australians.
“Look, we need to see how the Australian government continues to not look after our citizens. These people should be brought home, as should others,” he said.
“There should be appropriate quarantine facilities to make sure that Australians here are kept safe.”
Mr Albanese suggested Mr Morrison was responsible for Australians in India at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“These are Australian citizens, we have a responsibility to look after our citizens. Scott Morrison is all promise, no delivery,” Mr Albanese said.
“If they were home by Christmas they wouldn’t be COVID positive now.”
READ MORE:As Labor hopes dwindle, the party lacks the courage to change
Adeshola Ore10.12am:Treasurer dodges questions over low-middle income earners
Josh Frydenberg has dodged questions on whether Australians on low and middle incomes will be worse off when the government’s temporary tax cuts for people in these tax brackets ends.
The government extended the low and middle income tax offsets for another year in the federal budget, delivering $7.8bn in tax cuts for about 10.2 million Australians. In his post-budget speech on Wednesday, the Treasurer rejected suggestions the tax offsets should be made a permanent feature of the tax system.
Asked if people earning $80,000 or less would be worse off when the tax offsets ended Mr Frydenberg said “no they’re not.”
“We are making a structural reform, we’re getting rid of a whole 37 cents in the dollar tax bracket, that’s really important to understand,” he told the ABC.
WATCH: David Speers asks @JoshFrydenberg to explain how Australians would be better off under the planned stage 3 tax cuts #Insiders#auspolpic.twitter.com/mpKBy8K5az
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) May 15, 2021
This week the government also drew election battlelines with Labor over his $130bn phase three tax cuts, warning that a failure to support them would leave middle-income earners hundreds of dollars a year worse off.
READ MORE:Strategic budget fires starter’s gun for election
Joseph Lam10.05am:Palaszczuk looks to footy to boost Queensland tourism
Queensland is set to host the fourth NRL Magic round in 2022, with hopes the weekend-long event will bring a surge to the state’s tourism industry.
Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk took to social media on Sunday to announce the games will return as the 2021 event enters its last day.
“This weekend’s Magic Round is proving another big success, with 25,000 visitors from interstate and New Zealand booking out hotel rooms, filling up restaurants and enjoying everything Queensland has to offer,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We’re working closely with the NRL to ensure this marquee event continues to be staged here beyond 2022.”
This weekend’s Magic Round is proving another big success, with 25,000 visitors from interstate and New Zealand booking out hotel rooms, filling up restaurants and enjoying everything Queensland has to offer.#nrl#nrlmagicround✨
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) May 15, 2021
The Magic Round is an annual event which sees all 16 of the NRL’s teams come together in the one stadium to play off. The Super League-inspired weekend first took place in Queensland in 2019.
“With a world-class stadium and rugby league in our blood, Queensland is the perfect place for the Magic Round,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
READ MORE:Bennett leads with head as 12 players sin-binned
Agencies9.55am:Bodies of Covid victims dumped in India’s rivers
Coronavirus is raging in India’s hinterland, where in some places bodies are being buried in shallow graves or given up to rivers and the sick have little hope other than herbal remedies and amateur doctors.
Kidwai Ahmad, from Sadullahpur village in Uttar Pradesh, a huge northern state, said the situation is “disastrous” with people dying all around his neighbourhood.
“There is so much poverty all around that people can’t even afford decent cremations. They often tie big stones to the bodies and throw them in the river,” he told AFP by phone.
“Others don’t even bother with that and just throw the bodies in as they are. It has become common practice here,” he added.
“Some are just burying their dead in shallow graves and not even waiting to see if crows or dogs feed on them.” In the past month no medical team has visited the village.
The sick are staying at home taking “herbal concoctions”, Ahmad said. Clinics, if people can travel to them, are low on beds, medicines and oxygen.
“People have been left to die,” he added. “This is the India which is hidden from everyone.”
Meanwhile, more than 100 corpses have washed up on the banks of the river Ganges in recent days, suggesting the situation is equally dire elsewhere in the country.
In the district of Unnao, also in Uttar Pradesh, dozens of people have been buried in shallow sandy graves by the river.
Authorities announced on Friday they would dispatch patrols to the riverside to stop people disposing of their dead.
Locals say there is not enough wood for funeral pyres meaning they are forced to leave bodies in the river, but officials dispute there is a shortage.
READ MORE:More than 70 people miss out on mercy flight from India
Joseph Lam9.35am:Half of budget ‘temporary’: Frydenberg
Josh Frydenberg says half of the tax cuts and stimulus in the 2021 federal budget announced Tuesday are temporary.
The federal treasurer on Sunday appeared on ABC Insiders to defend the budget and its effect on the GDP.
“Of the new spending, about half of it is temporary, so that is doing what is working to date,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg said his budget delivered important cuts that were designed to meet “liberal values’
“You can see we increased spending to guarantee the essential services but we also did so in a way that is consistent with Liberal values,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg defended questions from show host David Speers that spending would be cut after the election.
WATCH: David Speers asks @JoshFrydenberg whether the government will cut spending after the next election #Insiders#auspolpic.twitter.com/RfW16qLeLr
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) May 15, 2021
READ MORE:Defence spending needs to match the risk of conflict now
Agencies9.30am:France hits 20 million Covid jab milestone
France reached its target of injecting 20 million initial doses of coronavirus vaccines Saturday, days ahead of a hugely anticipated reopening of restaurant terraces, part of an easing of the nationwide lockdown.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the milestone in a tweet that said “20 million” with a green checkmark, a number that represents around 30 percent of the population.
20 millions : ✅ pic.twitter.com/tYQOdM4TPY
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 15, 2021
Health officials said the exact figure was 20,086,792; with 8,805,345 people having also had a second vaccine dose.
“It’s a very important moment for the entire country, because it supports our prospects for ending this crisis,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told journalists while visiting the mass vaccination site at the Porte de Versailles conference centre in Paris.
The government aims to have 30 million initial doses injected by June 15, when Macron has said all adults will be able to sign up for a jab currently reserved for priority groups and adults over 50.
“It’s within reach,” Castex said.
Authorities also reported further declines in the number of patients requiring intensive care in hospitals.
The number of people in intensive care continued to fall Saturday, with the latest figures showing fewer than 4,271 -- down from 4,352 the previous day.
That is well below the peak of 6,001 during the “third wave” of infections that battered France starting in March.
AFP
READ MORE:National curriculum: We should grasp history whole, free of today’s dogma
Joseph Lam9.12pm:Queensland records no new local cases
Queensland has recorded one case of COVID-19 among an overseas returned traveller.
The state performed 3546 tests over the past 24 hours, bring the total number of tests performed to 2,543,760.
There are 13 cases of COVID-19 within the state, with the latest case detected in hotel quarantine.
Today’s new case is overseas acquired and detected in hotel quarantine. #covid19au
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) May 15, 2021
READ MORE:Queensland government offer vouchers to Cairns, Great Barrier Reef
Adeshola Ore9am: No regrets over half-empty mercy flight
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has defended the government’s border stance after more than 70 Australians stranded in India were barred from boarding the first repatriation flight from the coronavirus-ravaged country.
The first mercy flight from Delhi, since the government’s controversial flight ban ended, landed in Darwin on Saturday. The flight had a capacity 150 passengers, but a boosted testing regime meant nearly half of the intended passengers were not fit to fly, due to testing positive to the virus or being closely connected to cases, and were left in India.
Senator Birmingham told Sky News that keeping Australia’s border closed to international arrivals was an essential component of keeping coronavirus out of the country.
“We wouldn’t be in the condition we are as a country if we hadn’t taken firm approaches in relation to border control. And they remain a very important and ongoing factor in how we don’t just save Australian lives, but also how we save Australian jobs and businesses and secure our economic future,” he said.
“Yes, we see particularly challenging and troubling times in India right now. And we are working to make sure that we can continue the repatriation of Australians from India, but we’re doing so in a way that doesn’t jeopardise the health outcomes and the economic outcomes that Australia has enjoyed throughout this pandemic”
Anthony Albanese said the fact that Australians had contracted coronavirus in India was a direct result of the government’s complacency.
READ MORE:Injection of life into biotech industry
Adeshola Ore8.35am:Boosting employment rate will lift wages: Minister
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has sought to assure Australians that boosting the country’s employment rate will lift wages.
The federal budget revealed the government predicted minimal wage growth over the next four years. Labor seized on the wage growth forecasts and lashed the Morrison government for failing to help Australians cope with increased living costs.
“The best strategy to boost wages is to get as many Australians into jobs as possible, and to create that tension in the labour market that drives potential wages growth into the future,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News.
“That is exactly the strategy that we are pursuing, driving that employment growth up, unemployment down below 5%.”
Tuesday’s federal budget aimed to drive unemployment below 5 per cent over the next two years.
READ MORE:The only way is down for pay
Agencies8am:Israeli PM justifies media tower bombing in Gaza
Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt said he was “shocked and horrified” by the attack by the Israeli military on a Gaza city tower housing foreign media outlets.
Jala Tower, housing Associated Press and Al Jazeera, was demolished in the attack overnight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden that Israel did its utmost to safeguard civilians in its Gaza bombing campaign.
“The proof is that towers containing terror sites are cleared of uninvolved people prior to being attacked,” he claimed.
Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer had told him he had just an hour to evacuate the building.
Israel claimed that “military intelligence” agents of Hamas, the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers, were also in the building.
Biden also spoke to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, the Ramallah presidency said, the first time since Biden took office.
The White House earlier said it had told the Israelis that “the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility”.
AFP Chairman Fabrice Fries said the agency “stands in solidarity with all the media whose offices were destroyed in Gaza”.
Read the full story here.
Christine Kellett7.40am:Tests raise questions over flight screening process
Three people bumped off Australia’s first repatriation flight from India on Friday have reportedly tested negative to Covid, raising questions over the screening process for Australians trying to return home.
The half-empty Qantas flight landed in Darwin on Saturday, with just 80 of a possible 150 passengers on board, after dozens tested positive or were identified as close contacts shortly before departing New Delhi.
But the ABC reports the laboratory used to pre-screen passengers for the flight had its accreditation suspended by India’s laboratory board in April, and at least three people blocked from boarding over positive tests had since tested negative.
Labor on Saturday slammed the repatriation flight bungle.
Anthony Albanese told reporters the half-full flight was another failure in the Morrison government’s attempts to bring Australians home.
“We all remember Scott Morrison standing up saying he would bring Australians home by Christmas,” Mr Albanese said.
“We know that more than 30,000 Australians remain stranded.
“The fact that some of those Australians have contracted Covid as a direct result of them being brought home to safety is an indictment of the federal government’s complacency and of Scott Morrison’s capacity to make an announcement and then forget about it.”
READ MORE:Behold the long, slow death of the Labor Party
Agencies7.30am:Indian state orders lockdown after ‘superspreader’ election
An Indian state stricken by coronavirus after mass rallies were held for a key election ordered a two-week lockdown on Saturday in a bid to halt the spread.
All offices, stores and public transport in West Bengal were told to close for 15 days after the region reported its biggest spike yet in deaths and infections.
West Bengal along with a host of southern states are bearing the brunt of a COVID-19 surge in India that has taken the nation’s infection total to nearly 25 million with more than 265,000 deaths.
The strain of the virus responsible has been declared a variant of “global concern” by the World Health Organisation.
West Bengal accounted for 21,000 of India’s 326,000 new cases reported Saturday and hospitals in the state say they are swamped with patients.
READ MORE:Seventy bumped from India mercy flight
Natasha Robinson7am:Scientists clear air on Covid failure
A group of 40 global air quality is calling for the development of health standards aimed at reducing the risk of the airborne transmission of respiratory infections such as COVID-19 by increasing ventilation in buildings.
Despite global standards that govern eliminating the transmission of waterborne and foodborne infection transmission, there are no public health guidelines that address the risk of airborne transmission of viruses and bacteria in indoor spaces resulting from poor ventilation.
The group the world’s top aerosol scientists have published a paper in the prestigious journal science calling for a “paradigm shift” in health regulations, standards, and building design and operation relating to the quality of the air people breathe.
“In the 21st century, we need to establish the foundations to ensure that the air in our buildings is clean with a substantially reduced pathogen count,” they say in the paper.”
Read the full story here.
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