PoliticsNow: Scott Morrison says he’s helping Victoria with more vaccines, ADF
Scott Morrison says the next seven days will be challenging for the state as it heads into lockdown.
- Porter, ABC enter mediation
- PM’s support for Victoria
- Lambie cops Qantas ban
- ABC staff free to post opinions
Welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live coverage of political news from Canberra and around the nation amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Scott Morrison says the commonwealth is providing assistance to Victoria by way of 130,000 more vaccine doses and the provision of ADF personnel as the state prepares to enter lockdown tonight. Follow live updates in our dedicated Covid blog here.
Former attorney-general Christian Porter and the ABC are entering into mediation in a bid to settle his defamation claim against the public broadcaster over its reporting of rape allegations against him.
Outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie has explained why she has been banned by Qantas for six months, with a blow-up at staff behind the embarrassing measure.
Nicholas Jensen3.53pm:Greater Melbourne declared commonwealth ‘hotspot’
Federal chief medical officer Paul Kelly has declared Greater Melbourne a commonwealth “hotspot”, saying that rapidly increasing transmission overnight has caused a high risk situation.
“I declare this is the seventh time this has happened (a commonwealth hotspot) for Greater Melbourne ... the reason for that is that it has reached that definition of concern from the commonwealth level.”
Professor Kelly said the Victorian cases are related to India’s current outbreak and a higher level of transmission, saying we should proceed with caution.
Professor Kelly said the hotspot status will activate “some of the support from the commonwealth, especially in relation to single site support for aged care facility staff”.
While Professor Kelly said additional PPE and vaccines would be delivered to Victoria, he urged all Victorians to focus on getting vaccinated as a matter of urgency.
“I have said many times on this podium and other podiums, please get vaccinated,” he said.
“To protect yourself, your family and to contribute to the protection of the whole community in Australia - if you are in those groups where vaccination is available right now - please make that appointment and get vaccinated.”
Commodore Eric Young also reported that the Therapeutic Goods Administration cleared 352,170 doses of Pfizer on Sunday evening.
“At this stage we will clear 54,000 doses of CSL, manufactured by AstraZeneca, in the coming days and they will conduct a batch testing of another 550,000 doses of AstraZeneca.”
Commodore Young said supply to Victoria will be based on “the utilisation chart released on Monday”, adding that 268,000 doses will be available for the Victorian Health Department to administer “on top of what they are getting each week.”
Adeshola Ore3.11pm: Burden temporarily lifted for Victorian welfare recipients
Mutual obligation requirements for Victorians receiving welfare payments will be paused until June 7, as the state prepares to enter a snap lockdown.
Victoria will enter a seven-day lockdown from midnight tonight after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
The suspension will apply across the entire state from today until Monday, June 7. It applies to job seeker in Jobactive, Online Employment Services, Disability Employment Services and participants in ParentsNext.
Mutual obligations are compulsory tasks welfare recipients must do, such as attending appointments, in exchange for payments.
READ MORE: Grim virus warning
Adeshola Ore2.56pm:Commonwealth to declare Greater Melbourne a hotspot
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the commonwealth is due to announce Greater Melbourne as a commonwealth coronavirus hotspot.
Victoria will enter a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
Mr Hunt said Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly had advised him about the classification following a meeting with a medical expert panel.
Professor Kelly is due to address the media at 3.30pm.
A commonwealth hotspot helps the federal government to determine federal government support such as deployment of supplies from the national medical stockpile and additional funding.
READ MORE: The Mocker – Why victimising the vaccine hesitant won’t work
Charlie Peel2.49pm:Queensland declares whole of Victoria a hotspot
Queensland’s border will close to Victorians from 1am Friday and anyone returning to Queensland will be forced into hotel quarantine.
Annastasia Palaszczuk announced on Thursday afternoon that Victoria would be declared a Covid-19 hotspot.
The Premier said anyone who has been to Victoria in the past 14 days who has already returned to Queensland will be required to follow the same lockdown measures as if they were in Victoria.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young said anyone who has been in Victoria in the past two weeks needs to be tested for the virus and that anyone who has booked in to receive a vaccine but is subject to the lockdown restrictions will still be able to keep their appointment.
Police will be stationed at Queensland airports to check arrivals have complied with the measures.
Adeshola Ore 2.39pm: Victoria will be able to reopen soon: PM
Scott Morrison says he’s confident that Victoria’s seven-day snap lockdown will work as a circuit breaker for the state’s coronavirus outbreak.
Labor has used question time to target the Morrison government over what it says are failures in the vaccine rollout. The opposition has also criticised the commonwealth for not establishing national quarantine facilities.
Greens leader Adam Bandt also lashed the Prime Minister, labelling Victoria’s snap lockdown a “Morrison government lockdown.”
The Prime Minister said he was confident Victoria would be able to re-open soon.
“I’m confident the contact tracers working in Victoria right now are working to track this down,” Mr Morrison told parliament.
“This circuit breaking lockdown up to the next seven days will provide them with further opportunity to be able to identify those who need to be isolated and so Victoria can soon
re-open soon.”
TRADING DAY:ASX shrugs off lockdown
Nicola Berkovic 2.06pm: Porter, ABC enter into mediation
Former attorney-general Christian Porter and the ABC are entering into mediation in a bid to settle his defamation claim against the public broadcaster over its reporting of rape allegations against him.
A Federal Court order made with the parties’ consent on Thursday allows them to provide unredacted copies of the ABC’s defence and Mr Porter’s reply to any mediator in connection with the proceedings.
The ABC declined to comment, while Mr Porter has been contacted for comment.
The revelation comes after a Federal Court judge retired to decide whether Mr Porter’s high-profile barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC should be stopped from acting for the former attorney-general in his defamation case.
READ the full story here
PATRICK COMMINS2.01pm: Machinery, equipment give capex $1.3bn boost
Businesses ploughed $1.3bn into new machinery and equipment over the first three months of the year, as total capital expenditure jumped by 6.3 per cent in the quarter, or three times faster than expected.
Mining investment lifted by 4.1 per cent, and non-mining investment by 7.1 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
Economists said the stronger than anticipated figures would lift GDP growth estimates for the March quarter, ahead of national accounts figures out next Wednesday.
Citi chief economist Josh Williamson said “the broadbased gains across most industries is evidence that business confidence is on the rise and that capex plans have recovered since the arduous lockdowns of 2020 have ended”.
Spending on new equipment and machinery climbed by a blockbuster 9.1 per cent to $15.3 billion in the three months, after climbing by 5.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
Adeshola Ore 1.45pm: Morrison ‘highly’ in favour of Victorian quarantine proposal
Scott Morrison says the federal government is “highly” in favour of a proposal by the Victorian government for a purpose-built quarantine facility to supplement hotel quarantine.
The federal government is currently reviewing a proposal by Victoria for a quarantine facility.
“We are highly favourable towards this,” the Prime Minister said.
“One of the useful elements of this proposal is that it adds to capacity, it is not in place of hotel quarantine, they propose it to be in addition.”
READ MORE: Outbreak exposes flaws in Covid battle
Adeshola Ore 1.36pm: 900 more GP practices called on for vaccine rollout
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the commonwealth will open up expression of interests for an additional 900 GP practices to participate in the vaccine rollout, in response to Victoria’s coronavirus which has risen to 26 cases.
Mr Hunt also announced a $2.6 million funding package for doctor’s mental health.
Mr Hunt acknowledged it was a “difficult day” for Victorians.
“We have been through this before, we will get through this again,” he said.
Mr Hunt said the first 20,000 of the additional 130,000 coronavirus doses would be provided to Victoria today.
“The Victorian Aged Care response Centre has been stood up and contact tracing through the National incident Centre has also been offered,” he said.
Mr Hunt said Wednesday was another “record day” for vaccinations with 111,3888 presenting to get a shot.
There are now 3.9 million doses that have been administered across the nation.
Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak should be a “wake-up call” about the threat of the virus, as he urged eligible people to get vaccinated.
“It [the virus] is here now and the best thing you can do as an Australian, not just for your own health but the health of the people around you is to go and get your vaccine as soon as it is available to you,” he said.
“The events of the last few days have demonstrated that Covid is a real and present threat to all of us, all the time, despite our excellent arrangements.”
READ MORE: Russia ‘out to discredit Pfizer jab’
Adeshola Ore1.21pm:PM sends more vaccines, ADF personnel to Victoria
Scott Morrison says the next seven days will be challenging for Victoria as the state prepares to enter its fourth coronavirus lockdown at midnight.
The state will commence a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
“We are very mindful of the distressed and the difficulty this will impose upon people right across Victoria,” he said.
Mr Morrison said “every support” had been given to the Victorian government, and pointed to the additional 130,000 vaccines the commonwealth will send to the state.
He said 218 Australian Defence personnel were in Victoria under an ongoing operation.
Mr Morrison says it’s crucial that Victoria is able to open up as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister thanked the state’s contract tracers for doing a “tremendous job” after they identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
“What we need to do now is what we have done on every occasion, we just need to focus on working the issue, and working together, that’s how we have come through on every occasion,” he said.
“That’s the way the Commonwealth government, my government is addressing this together with the Health Minister.”
READ MORE: Seven-day statewide lockdown for Victoria
Adeshola Ore1.15pm:Albanese: My heart goes out to everyone in Victoria
Anthony Albanese says Victorians should “never have been put in this situation,” as Labor seeks to blame the Morrison government for the state’s coronavirus outbreak.
Victoria will enter a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
“My heart goes out to everyone in Victoria going into lockdown today,” the Opposition Leader said in a video message posted on Twitter.
“You’ve been through this before and I know that the next period is going to be tough for so many,” he said.
Labor has criticised the Morrison government for not establishing national fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities and the delayed vaccine rollout.
Mr Albanese said the outbreak marked the 17th coronavirus outbreak linked to hotel quarantine.
“The federal government should have fixed quarantine many months ago,” he said.
“It’s beyond my comprehension that the experts have been ignored.”
READ MORE: Albo slimming down on policy before fight night
Remy Varga 1.09pm:Victoria’s vaccine hotline crashes
Victoria’s COVID-19 hotline crashed as the state prepares to enter a snap seven day lockdown.
The hotline is the number given to Victorians who want to book a vaccination appointment. The Victorian government’s website suggests people try booking online through the Victorian or federal government’s website.
The Health Department said there was a high volume of calls to the hotline and the hotline was experiencing connection difficulties or delays.
Callers are currently having difficulty accessing the Victorian Coronavirus Hotline.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 27, 2021
We are working with the service provider and will advise as soon as this issue has been rectified. pic.twitter.com/AlTyZPcbgJ
“Callers are currently having difficulty accessing the Victorian Coronavirus Hotline,” the department said in a tweet.
“We are working with the service provider and will advise as soon as this issue has been rectified.”
READ MORE: Bramston – Unaccountable ABC treats audience with contempt
Adeshola Ore12.28pm:Lockdown to deliver $1bn blow to Victoria
The Australian Retailers Association says Victoria’s lockdown is a “devastating blow” for the retail sector and wider consumer confidence.
Victoria will enter a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts linked to the coronavirus outbreak which is now at 26 cases.
The association’s chief executive Paul Zahra said the seven-day lockdown was anticipated to cost over one billion dollars from lost retail trade.
“This isn’t just a financial cost – it’s a social one as well. This lockdown will have an enormous impact on people’s health and wellbeing and will shatter fragile confidence levels for the second half of the year,” he said.
“Businesses no longer have JobKeeper support payments available to them and Victorian small businesses in particular will be under significant stress – this is a huge blow to their confidence.’’
Mr Zahra said the association supported the Victorian government keeping the community safe but stressed the “significant impact” of the lockdown on retailers, particularly small businesses, could not be ignored.
“Victorians have been to hell and back over the past year or so, and just when we thought the worst of Covid was behind us, it reared its head again mid-year,” he said.
READ MORE: Sponsor wants Olympics cancelled
Adeshola Ore 12.19pm: Federal government has your back, Frydenberg tells Victorians
Josh Frydenberg has sought to assure Victoria it has the support of the federal government as the state prepares to enter its fourth Covid-19 lockdown.
Victoria will enter a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight tonight after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts connected to the outbreak.
Today’s announcement of another lockdown is difficult for Victorians.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) May 27, 2021
We have got through this before & we will do so again.
Please continue to follow the medical advice & if eligible to get vaccinated, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Stay safe & look out for one another. pic.twitter.com/LQ0fXYp0lr
“The announcement today of another lockdown will be difficult for Victorians. But we have got through this before and we will do so again,” the Treasurer said in a video posted to Twitter.
“Victorians have been magnificent throughout the pandemic in supporting one another.”
“Our government will continue to stand with Victorians as we have done every day of this crisis. Please stay safe.”
Mr Frydenberg urged eligible Victorians to get vaccinated against coronavirus and said anyone with symptoms of the virus should get tested.
READ MORE: ABC stars in about-face on Wuhan lab leak
Adeshola Ore11.55am: Reinstate JobKeeper for Victoria, ACTU urges
The ACTU has called on the Morrison government to reinstate JobKeeper for some Victorian businesses, as the state faces its first lockdown without the wage subsidy.
Victoria will enter a snap seven-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday after it was revealed contact tracers had identified 10,000 primary and secondary contacts.
The union’s president Michele O’Neil said the federal government’s “lack of action” on national quarantine standards and issues with distributing vaccines was to blame for the state’s lockdown.
“This lockdown is the direct result of policy failures from the Morrison government. A vaccine rollout which is months behind the rest of the developed world and a refusal to provide central coordination on quarantine,” she said.
“It will be made worse by the decision to pull support out from under workers in the middle of the recovery. People will lose work during this lockdown thanks to the federal government’s decision to completely end JobKeeper early.”
Ms O’Neil said the absence of Jobkeeper in this lockdown meant workers in sectors like hospitality and retail had no employment security.
“While the vaccine rollout continues to flounder there will be thousands of businesses and millions of workers who continue to need support,” she said.
READ MORE: Savva – PM and Albo muscle in on each other’s turf
Tessa Akerman11.48am: Kids win on climate risk, but fail to close coal mine
The Federal Court has ruled the federal environment minister owes Australian children a duty of care for the health risks linked to climate change but refused to impose an injunction preventing the expansion of a coal mine.
Eight children launched legal action against federal minister Sussan Ley over the proposed expansion of the Vickery coal mine near Gunnedah in New South Wales with the extension project expected to extract an additional 33 million tonnes of coal over the 25 year life of the project.
“In my assessment, that risk is “real”, meaning that it may be remote but it is not far-fetched or fanciful,” Justice Mordecai Bromberg said.
“Those potential harms may fairly be described as catastrophic, particularly should global average surface temperatures rise to and exceed 3°C beyond the pre-industrial level.”
Justice Bromberg said the court was told one million of today’s Australian children were expected to suffer at least one heat-stress episode serious enough to require acute care in a hospital.
He said the evidence demonstrated that a reasonable person in the position of the Minister would foresee that the extension’s effect on increased CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere would expose each of the children to a risk of death or other personal injury.
Justice Bromberg determined the minister had a duty to take reasonable care not to cause the Children personal injury when exercising her power under s 130 and s 133 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to approve or not approve the Extension Project.
READ MORE: Oil giants hit as climate -change pressures intensify
VICTORIA LAURIE11.35am:WA slams shut border to Victoria
Western Australia will put up a hard border to Victorians from 10am today WST after the eastern state’s latest outbreak of Covid-19 and the announcement of a seven-day lockdown starting at midnight tonight.
Premier Mark McGowan says the fast developing situation means that WA will strengthen border controls from 10am today, and travellers from Victoria will no longer be permitted to enter the state, except West Australians wanting to return.
However, anyone who has been in Victoria since May 16 must now be tested within 48 hours and self-quarantine until results come back.
He says around 500 people are due to enter the state by airplane, but numbers are likely to fall away. “I understand it will be difficult for those people (who arrive in Perth).”
He said that as of 6.30 this morning, all members of the Essendon AFL team arriving in WA had returned negative results.
“We take no pleasure in reimposing the hard border,” he said.
READ MORE: Airlines start cutting Melbourne flights
Will Glasgow11.29am:Australian diplomats barred from Beijing court
Australian diplomats have been denied entry to the closed trial of Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, which has just begun in a Beijing court surrounded by Chinese police.
Graham Fletcher, Australia’s ambassador in China, confirmed that Chinese authorities had rebuffed requests for diplomatic representatives to be allowed entry to the secretive trial.
Addressing media gathered outside the heavily policed Beijing Number 2 Intermediate People’s Court, Mr Fletcher said that Chinese officials had cited the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for the denial.
China’s foreign ministry has previously said the case was closed because of national security reasons and called Australia’s complaints “deplorable”.
Speaking hours before the trial commenced, Foreign Minister Marise Payne repeated the Morrison government’s concern about the lack of transparency in the case.
“I very much hope Dr Yang is provided with a fair trial but we have not seen any explanation or evidence of the charges brought against him,” she told the ABC’s AM radio program on Thursday morning.
Mr Hengjun’s closed trial is expected to last only one day and comes two years and five months after he was separated from his wife Yuan Xiaoliang and step daughter in January 2019 in Guangzhou airport and detained by China’s secret police.
READ MORE: Cold War sequel of sorts, but Asia fails to follow script
Adeshola Ore11.04am:Handle borders the NSW way: Dutton
Defence Minister Peter Dutton says Australia cannot function with state border closures and lockdowns, as he points to NSW as the star model of managing coronavirus outbreaks.
The Victorian government will announce the state’s fourth covid-19 lockdown this morning, after up to 11 new cases were confirmed overnight, bringing the cluster total to up to 26.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she had no plans to close the NSW-Victorian border.
“I think the NSW model is the model we’ve got to go with. They’ve got a great established model of being able to contact trace people, which we know is important, so they can quickly lock a family down if that’s the issue,” he told 2GB radio.
“That’s the way we’ve got to do it. We can’t have the closure of state borders. Businesses can’t bring in perishable foods into a restaurant and then be advised after they’ve done that, that nobody can come into their restaurant for five days.”
“We need to be able to have confidence in contact tracing.”
Mr Dutton also said the federal government would provide “whatever assistance is required” to Victoria.
READ MORE: Jobs for quarantine hotel boss’s mates
Frances Vinall 10.44am:Lambie’s Qantas ban: ‘I deserve it’
Outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie has explained why she has been banned by Qantas for six months, with a blow-up at staff behind the embarrassing measure.
Ms Lambie revealed to Today on Thursday morning she has apologised after she “blew her stack” at staff.
“I have apologised profusely, I went on a rant and I deserve everything I got from Qantas,” she said.
“I’ve tried to apologise to those staff members and I’ve even written a letter myself apologising for that a few months ago.
“That ban will stay — I deserve every bit of that ban, and once again I am profusely apologetic to those staff members involved.”
The Tasmanian senator said she let it rip at staff members after a long day.
“It had been a long few weeks up in Parliament and it’s just been a really, really long year,” she said.
“Basically, I blew my stack.
“Unfortunately, there were a couple of Qantas staff members that wore that, and they should never have wore that, and basically it was really unfair of me to do what I did to them.
“I am extremely apologetic for my behaviour for that few minutes.”
After her explanation host Karl Stefanovic had a cheeky offer for the firebrand politician.
“If you want to let up some steam just call Ali or me,” he joked, referencing co-host Allison Langdon.
“I’ve got your number,” Ms Lambie returned.
Ms Lambie had threatened staff members with “pussy power” and referred to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who is gay, with a homophobic slur, The Age reported on Thursday morning.
The incident occurred on March 25 in the Chairman’s Lounge in Melbourne. – NCA Newswire
READ MORE: Panicked Victorians flee lockdown
Rachel Baxendale10.11am:Victorians to go into 7-day statewide lockdown
The Victorian government is set to announce a seven-day statewide lockdown from midnight.
The move comes after 11 new coronavirus cases were confirmed overnight, bringing the Whittlesea cluster total to 26.
Cabinet crisis talks were held late into Wednesday night and have continued on Thursday morning, with a time for a press conference yet to be confirmed but likely to be known within an hour.
The Australian understands the restrictions are likely to be closer to the Stage Three level imposed in February than the Stage Four experienced during the 111 day lockdown in 2020.
While children are set to return to home schooling, industry will remain open.
READ MORE on Victoria’s unfolding coronavirus outbreak in our dedicated coronavirus live blog
Robert Gottliebsen9.59am:Australian titanium to build US defence links
Australia is set to help the US overcome one of its biggest industrial-defence weaknesses.
With the rapid uptake of additive manufacturing in the defence and aerospace industries, titanium alloy powder has become a strategic key input for US and western defence. But there are limited supply chains outside Russia, China and Kazakhstan.
Recently when US- Russian tensions rose, Russia put on the table a set of measures that, if adopted could see the country halt crucial supplies of titanium to Boeing.
The aircraft industry is increasingly reliant on titanium as a strong lightweight material for use in wing assemblies, steering wheels, hydraulic systems and a number of other parts Accordingly this really underlined to the US its vulnerability in titanium, particularly as related materials are set to become even more important in batteries.
Australia has the world’s largest titanium reserves (rutile and ilmenite) and Amaero believes Australia has an opportunity to make itself the supply base for titanium alloy and titanium alloy powder.
READRobert Gottliebsen’s full story here
Adeshola Ore9.43am: Victorian aged-care residents vaccinated ‘within days’
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck says the 29 Victorian aged-care homes that are completely unvaccinated will have their residents immunised in the “next few days.”
It comes as Victorian authorities prepare to announce the state’s fourth covid-19 lockdown this morning, after up to 11 new cases were confirmed overnight, bringing the cluster total to up to 26. On Wednesday Health Minister Greg Hunt said the commonwealth would release an additional 130,000 Covid-19 vaccines to support the state and focus on the 29 unvaccinated centres.
Senator Colbeck said the federal government was focusing on these centres.
“We’ve been working our way obviously across the country. There’s about 600 facilities that the commonwealth has responsibility for in Victoria...29 of those left to be done. They were programmed to be done. They were programmed to be done this week or next week, so we’ll get those finalised as quickly as we can.” he said
Senator Colbeck also said he was “comfortable” with the pace of the vaccination rollout.
“About 85 per cent of residents across Australia have taken up the vaccine,” he told Channel 9.
“It’s been a significant logistical effort. There’s some providers who have put back their vaccine dates so that the residents can get flu vaccinations. We have worked with the providers to schedule them over the last 12 or 13 weeks to get the vaccines.”
READ MORE: Ramsay’s rare insight into Covid crisis
David Ross9.37am: Virgin cancels flights to and from Melbourne
Virgin Australia has cancelled 10 flights in and out of Melbourne on the back of the state’s growing Covid-19 clusters.
The airline said most services in and out of Melbourne were operating as normal, Virgin was adjusting its forward schedule to reflect demand and bookings.
Customers affected by the 10 cancellations will be contacted directly.
FOLLOWlive ASX updates at Trading Day
Adeshola Ore9.21am:Victorian outbreak: Labor seizes on ‘commonwealth failures’
Labor is seizing on Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak to draw attention to what the opposition says are commonwealth failures in managing hotel quarantine and the vaccine rollout.
The Victorian government will announce the state’s fourth covid-19 lockdown this morning, after up to 10 new cases were confirmed overnight, bringing the cluster total to up to 25.
Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said the commonwealth needed to ramp up the urgency of the vaccine rollout.
“Right now, half of the people over 70 are not vaccinated in this country. Twenty-nine residential aged care facilities in Melbourne, where they’re having an outbreak right now, haven’t had a jab in their arms. And that’s why I say we need to inject some urgency into the vaccine rollout,” she told the ABC.
“We have vulnerable people in the community, our vulnerable populations, who are not getting the vaccine. Where is the federal government when it comes to rolling out the vaccine?”
She said Australia needed a national quarantine system that was “fit-for-purpose”
“This outbreak that we are now seeing in Victoria started with an outbreak from hotel quarantine in Adelaide. That is the 17th outbreak from hotel quarantine in six months,” she said.
Senator Keneally also urged anyone who was eligible for a vaccine not to delay getting inoculated.
READ MORE: Margin Call – Holgate probe splits senators
James Hall 9.01am: Holgate still waiting for apology from Morrison
Former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate says she doubts Scott Morrison will follow demands from a senate inquiry that found the Prime Minister owed the former public service executive an apology.
Ms Holgate quit her role at Australia Post in November after it was revealed she purchased luxury Cartier watches worth a total of $20,000 for four employees as a reward for securing a banking deal in 2018.
An inquiry was partly established to investigate the events relating to her resignation and whether the Australia Post board exercised its role with due diligence.
Ms Holgate was asked on Channel 7’s Sunrise on Thursday morning if she expected the Prime Minister or Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to follow through with recommendations to apologise she said “not yet”.
“But I would welcome that phone call,” she said.
She also said her former board “believe I was treated appallingly but they don’t think it deserves an apology”.
“I struggle with that, personally,” she told the breakfast news program.
“That’s their position prior to this report, and I hope that overnight they’ve had the chance to read it – it is very extensive.
“(I hope) they consider those words and pick up the phone and say that they are sorry and make a small statement.”
The 255-page report from the Senate inquiry was released on Wednesday with 25 recommendations.
“The committee recommends that the Australia Post board and shareholder ministers and the Prime Minister apologise to Ms Holgate for denying her the legal principles of procedural fairness and natural justice in her departure from Australia Post,” the report read.
Committee members also questioned the “degree of moral outrage” directed towards Ms Holgate. – NCA Newswire
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Adeshola Ore8.43am: Butler lays blame for Melbourne outbreak at PM’s feet
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler says the Morrison government is responsible for Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak due to their failures in managing quarantine and the vaccine rollout.
The Victorian government will announce the state’s fourth Covid-19 lockdown this morning, after up to 10 new cases were confirmed overnight, bringing the cluster total to up to 25.
An open door at an Adelaide quarantine hotel has been identified as the likely source of covid-19 transmission from one infected guest to another in a breach which has been blamed for starting the Melbourne outbreak.
“This is the 17th outbreak from hotel quarantine in just the last six months. We’re dealing with these outbreaks almost every week or two at the moment,” Mr Butler told ABC Radio.
“Experts advised the Prime Minister to put in place dedicated fit-for-purpose facilities to take the pressure off hotels that were built for tourism, not medical quarantine.”
Mr Butler also said the commonwealth was to blame for the 29 residential aged care facilities in Victoria that remain completely unvaccinated.
“There’s no shortage of supply. It can only be that the system the government has put into place is falling down.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt yesterday said the commonwealth would release an additional 130,000 covid-19 vaccines to support the state and focus on these 29 centres.
READ MORE: Business ups pressure for quicker jab rollout
Joseph Lam8.35am:Victorian outbreak ‘enormous concern’ for NSW
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria is of massive concern to her state as NSW Health scrambles to trace a regional sports team who crossed the NSW-Victoria border.
“The fact that 60 venues are now on the list of concern in Victoria is of enormous concern to us,” Ms Berejiklian said on Sunrise on Thursday.
“Of course we have had their sporting matches along the border which had involved South Wales teams, we are extremely concerned.”
Ms Berejiklian speculated that Victoria lacked confidence in its check-in systems which may have prompted a complete lockdown.
“Every state makes decisions based on the confidence they have on their systems and what is going on,” she said.
“If you are not confident that you have everyone’s mark that you do have to consider other options. I assume that is what the Victorian government is doing.”
READ MORE: Open door in Adelaide let to outbreak
James Madden7.50am: ABC says staff free to post opinions
The ABC will not discourage staff from posting provocative personal opinions on social media, despite the recent resignation of a senior in-house lawyer who labelled the Coalition government as “fascist” and described Scott Morrison as “an awful human being”.
“We are editorially responsible for what we do on our own official platforms; we are not editorially responsible for what our staff do on their personal social media, hence we have introduced the code of conduct to capture personal social media,” the ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday night.
“We can’t supersede people’s civil liberties … people don’t park all their civil liberties at the door when they come through the door at the ABC.”
Mr Anderson said staff could be disciplined if they breached the ABC’s code of conduct, but the management did not have the authority to order staff to stay off social media platforms.
The ABC boss did reveal that a senior lawyer at the national broadcaster, Sebastien Maury, had recently resigned following discussions with management in the wake of his posts on Twitter, which included references to the “fascist” Morrison government and disparaging remarks about the Prime Minister.
“We did an investigation on that, we followed the process, we got to the end of that process and Mr Maury resigned, he no longer works at the ABC,” Mr Anderson told the Senate hearing.
Earlier, Mr Anderson announced the ABC had struck a deal with Google and Facebook that will see the tech giants compensate the national broadcaster for the use of its journalism.
“When these commercial deals are concluded, they will enable the ABC to make new and significant investments in regional services,” he said.
READ the full story by James Madden and Sophie Elsworth here
Joseph Lam 7.30am:Melbourne braces for yet another lockdown
Results of overnight testing will determine if Melbourne enters another strict lockdown today as the number of Covid-19 cases linked to a cluster in the city’s north hit 15, with 79 exposure sites.
FOLLOW the live updates on Victoria’s Covid out break here
Geoff Chambers7.00am: Labor warms to PM’s $130bn tax cuts
Labor is moving closer to supporting Scott Morrison’s $17 billion-a-year stage three tax cuts and will not seek to permanently entrench the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset if it wins the next election.
The Australian can reveal the opposition will not repeal the legislated $130 billion final stage of tax cuts for middle- and high-income earners, with a final policy expected within months.
As Labor seeks to present a smaller, lower-cost election manifesto, the $7.8 billion-a-year temporary LMITO — delivering about 10.2 million Australians tax relief of up to $1080 — is not expected to make the cut in Anthony Albanese’s tax policy.
Mr Albanese’s shadow cabinet, which has been deliberating the design of the party’s tax policy following Josh Frydenberg’s big-spending May 11 budget, is understood to be firming on a decision to support the stage three tax cuts package in full.
Growing support from senior MPs for stage three has been partially driven by the Prime Minister’s post-budget strategy to attack Labor over tax and link the federal ALP to the revenue hikes in the Victorian Labor government’s budget.
The opposition tax policy — requiring support from caucus, which has been divided over stage three — has examined four options: full repeal, suspending the tax cuts, carving out higher incomes and endorsing the package as is. Labor is expected to follow a similar approach to Mr Frydenberg’s in not “indefinitely” extending the LMITO, which was included in the budget as a stimulus measure for a third and final year.
READ the full story here
Olivia Caisley 6.30am: Morrison ‘should apologise to Holgate’
A parliamentary probe into the Cartier watch scandal has called on Scott Morrison to apologise to ousted Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate over her treatment and for the organisation’s chairman, Lucio Di Bartolomeo, to resign.
Ms Holgate applauded the 25 recommendations made by an unusual alliance of Labor, the Greens and One Nation, declaring the final Senate committee report vindication for “everyone who has suffered bullying or has felt powerless”.
The findings were contested, however, with a dissenting report from Liberal and Nationals senators accusing the probe of becoming a “highly politicised exercise”.
Ms Holgate quit Australia Post in November after it was revealed she bought four watches worth $12,000 as rewards for senior employees – a move that sparked a personal intervention from the Prime Minister when he publicly called for an investigation into the purchases.
The ex-postal sector chief said she dedicated the report’s findings to everyone who has suffered bullying. “I hope that the findings of the committee’s report are enacted, and we can finally settle my personal issues via mediation.”
READ the full story here
Climate Active exodus lifts fears
Labor to continue with voluntary emission offset scheme despite a spate of companies leaving amid concerns about the validity of some credits.
Fishers salty over sardine plans
A newly discovered, vast sardine resource could be a new sustainable fishery for Australia, but some are getting salty over dolphin deaths.