PoliticsNow: Morrison reveals review of parliament culture; PM accused using of ‘victim blaming’ rhetoric amid Brittany Higgins rape allegations
Scott Morrison has explained how an independent review into the workplace culture of Parliament House will work.
- Ex-Liberal staffer accuses PM of ‘victim blaming’
- ‘Devastated’ Cash only recently aware of rape claim
- PM stands by timeline over rape claims
- What Victorians can and can’t do
- Monday jabs for NSW frontliners
- Rape inquiry probes guard concerns
Welcome to live coverage of the latest political headlines from Canberra, as well as the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The alleged victim of a rape in a parliamentary office has accused the PM of victim blaming in a fresh statement, adding she only learned key details her alleged rape after going public.
Scott Morrison has told parliament he stands by his timeline that his office only became aware of the alleged rape on Friday.
Masks and home visit restrictions will stay but Daniel Andrews has announced that almost all others will lift at midnight on Wednesday as Victoria records no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases today.
Rhiannon Down11.15pm: ‘Weak positive’ case in Victoria
Victorian health authorities say a man has presented to hospital with a “weak positive” case of COVID-19.
The man from the Twin Parks Aged Care Facility in Reservoir in Melbourne’s north, was a positive case from August last year and the low positive may be the result of past infection.
“This case has not been added to the numbers as it is still under investigation,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
“The result is thought to represent persistent shedding from a previous infection. He has no links to cases at the Holiday Inn.”
The case was retested on Wednesday and will be reviewed by an expert panel.
Staff and residents at the Twin Parks Aged Care Facility have been tested as a precaution.
READ MORE:Contact tracers had it in hand
Dennis Shanahan11.10pm:Using scandal as a political weapon imperils all
Using the politics of sexual scandal is dangerous for all involved no matter how serious the allegation or the justification for calling prime ministers, ministers or any MP or senator to account.
Political manoeuvres using sexual scandal mean all politicians lose, not just those accused of hiding scandal, covering up and failing any victims but also those who seek to gain advantage.
Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party have been caught ill-prepared to answer the charges of Anthony Albanese’s Labor this week because there was not a political preparation and there was a failure to recognise the potential for a sexual assault claim to consume the government.
Rhiannon Down10.50pm: States ease border restrictions on Victorians
Victoria has just over an hour left under tightened COVID-19 restrictions.
The state recorded zero COVID cases in the past 24 hours, after a mammoth effort for health authorities to contain an outbreak linked to The Holiday Inn quarantine hotel.
Several states and territories have already begun to lift their border restrictions, which were thrown up just over a week ago as Victoria started its five-day lockdown.
Northern Territory: Melbourne is no longer considered a hotspot city and travel from the two states resumed from 6pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.
South Australia: Regional Victorians will be allowed to travel to SA from midnight, though Melburnians will be forced to wait until next Tuesday.
Western Australia: Travellers from Victoria will be permitted to enter WA without an exemption from midnight on Saturday.
Tasmania: Victoria will return to “low-risk” status from midnight on Saturday, pending no further COVID-19 cases in Victoria that are considered a public health risk.
Queensland: Queensland health authorities said on Wednesday the state’s border would not open to Melbourne before 10 days have passed. Borders will reopen on February 27.
READ MORE:Airport camp in danger of stalling
Rhiannon Down10.10pm: Taiwan vaccine deal collapses
Taiwan’s attempt to secure doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has hit a roadblock at the 11th-hour, sparking fears China could be applying political pressure.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said a crucial deal to secure five million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had failed “at the final step” of negotiations on Wednesday.
“I was worried about interference from external forces all along and there were many possibilities. I was worried about political pressure. We believed there was political pressure,” he said in a radio interview.
In response to questions if China could be behind the failure of the deal, Mr Chen said: “This could be a possibility but we can’t confirm it.”
China has recently struck a deal with Shanghai-based Fosun Pharmaceutical Group to bring the BioNTech vaccine to the country.
READ MORE:I’ll do it again if I must, says unrepentant Andrews
Alice Workman 9.25pm:ALP finds 11 flaws in harassment policy
Anthony Albanese’s top advisers have been looking into a raft of issues — including “political tribalism”, “power imbalances” and “impact on career trajectory” — that Labor needs to address in order to combat sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
The committee, led by the Labor leader’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell, identified 11 issues that had left staff unable or unwilling to report these issues, minutes of a July 2020 meeting show.
Labor’s working group on sexual harassment policy first met on July 6 that year and identified “uncertainty around what to do and who to speak to”, “small offices” and a “lack of training of those who deal with complaints”.
Charlie Peel8.40pm:Airport camp in danger of stalling
The Palaszczuk government’s proposal to use a privately built camp near Toowoomba to quarantine international arrivals is at an impasse, with the federal and state governments unable to agree on who would run it if it went ahead.
Despite support from tourism, tertiary education and agriculture industry bodies, the mooted alternative to using inner-city hotels for quarantine is floundering over the lack of basic details about how it would operate.
Businessman John Wagner has offered to build the 1000-room facility next to his Wellcamp Airport at his company’s own cost and charge the government a capped fee per person staying in the accommodation, which would be refunded by the user.
Rosie Lewis, Robyn Ironside8pm:Tourism’s $8bn bid to stay afloat
Australia’s tourism sector has demanded nearly $8bn in wage-subsidy payments for more than 100,000 of the worst-affected businesses once JobKeeper ends in March, warning that without a replacement scheme there won’t be an industry left.
Unveiling its proposal after Tourism Minister Dan Tehan asked the sector to justify any further assistance with hard evidence and suggestions, the Tourism and Transport Form pitched a nine-month, $7.74bn program starting in April that it estimates would help 77 per cent of the industry’s businesses.
Those that suffered a 30 per cent to 49.99 per cent downturn in the June, September and December 2021 quarters compared to the March 2019 quarter — a year before COVID-19 hit — would receive $1000 fortnightly payments for employees.
Businesses with a turnover decline of 50 per cent or more would be handed the original JobKeeper rate of $1500 a fortnight.
Tom Whipple7.35pm: Superspreaders are older and overweight
Superspreaders really do exist. Scientists have found people who produce 1000 times as many aerosol particles as their peers when they breathe out, making them a far greater risk.
The older and more overweight people were, the more likely they were to be among the 20 per cent who exhaled 80 per cent of aerosol droplets, the study of almost 200 people showed.
The information could be key in understanding the dynamics of the pandemic, the researchers said. It is now well established that COVID-19 is driven by “super-spreading”.
READ MORE: Pete Evans banned from Instagram
Rhiannon Down7pm:Crowds return to tennis
Spectators will return to the Australian Open from Thursday, as Victoria emerges from a five-day lockdown at midnight.
Organisers confirmed crowds at the tournament would be capped at 7477 per session, which is at about 50 per cent capacity.
“Masks required where physical distancing isn’t possible,” organisers said on social media.
Looking forward to welcoming fans back to Melbourne Park tomorrow🙌with attendance capped at 7,477 for each session - approximately 50% capacity.
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 17, 2021
😷Masks required where physical distancing isn't possible. pic.twitter.com/7Txk0EiEJR
READ MORE: Is two hours outside the new 10,000 steps?
Agencies6.45pm:Japan starts vaccine rollout
Japan has started vaccinating healthcare workers against the coronavirus, rolling out a cautious inoculation program with just over five months until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Japan has so far approved only the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and started administering the first shots at a Tokyo hospital on Wednesday morning.
Tokyo Medical Centre director Kazuhiro Araki became the first person in Japan to receive the vaccine outside of clinical trials.
“The vaccine plays an important role in anti-coronavirus measures. So I thought as a director I should take the lead and get the shot,” he said afterwards.
“I don’t like getting shots very much. But it wasn’t painful, so it was good. I was relieved.” Nurse Rino Yoshida, wearing a face mask and visor, was calm and relaxed as she was vaccinated.
“The mortality rate and the risk of illness have gone down overseas, so hopefully vaccinations starting in Japan can change the situation here,” she told public broadcaster NHK.
Speaking afterwards, vice health minister Hiroshi Yamamoto said he was “really moved” to witness the first shots being administered.
“I want to thank from the bottom of my heart the healthcare professionals who are working on the coronavirus frontline,” he added.
Doses will be administered three weeks apart, with the people in the study group asked to keep daily records of any side effects or reactions, local media said.
The country then hopes to vaccinate around 3.7 million health workers from next month, with jabs for around 36 million people aged 65 or older starting from April.
The program will extend later to those with pre-existing conditions or working with the elderly, and eventually to the general population, but there has been little detail yet on the timing for that.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he takes “seriously the fact that it has taken time” for Japan to start vaccinations compared to some other countries.
“But today we start, and it is the government’s responsibility to prepare the environment so that many Japanese people are vaccinated.”
Japan’s minister overseeing vaccinations, Taro Kono, said there was no timeline yet for vaccinating the broader population.
He also acknowledged he had “no idea” how much of the population will be vaccinated by this northern summer’s postponed Olympics.
“I’m not really taking the Olympics into my consideration. I need to roll out the vaccine as I get the supply from Europe.”
READ MORE:What you can and can’t do in Victoria from midnight
Rosie Lewis6.05pm:PM outlines review of parliament culture
Scott Morrison has outlined, in a letter to Labor leader Anthony Albanese, how an independent review into the workplace culture of Parliament House will work.
In the letter, sent on Thursday, the Prime Minister said he expected this review “would be conducted at arm’s length of the government, consult widely across parliamentarians and their staff, the departments and agencies that support our work, and provide constructive feedback on measures that can be implemented”.
“In particular, I have asked that this process considers the adequacy, effectiveness, independence and awareness of current supports that are available to parliamentarians and their staff,” Mr Morrison wrote. “It is important that staff who work with us are listened to in this process.”
The independent review is separate from two other inquiries announced by Mr Morrison on Tuesday — one run by Liberal MP Celia Hammond into the workplace culture of the Coalition and another run by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet into reporting mechanisms.
READ MORE:Woman ‘jumped roof to escape quarantine’
Agencies 5.55pm: Ardern ends snap lockdown in Auckland
New Zealand has lifted a snap three-day COVID-19 lockdown in its largest city, Auckland, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expressing confidence the outbreak in the city of almost two million was contained.
“(It appears) that we don’t have a widespread outbreak, but rather a small chain of transmission which is manageable via our normal contact tracing and testing procedures,” she said on Wednesday.
READ MORE:Morrison hits back at Ardern in citizenship row
Finn McHugh5.35pm:Vaccine statistic ‘concerning’ authorities
Figures showing more than a quarter of Australians will delay receiving a COVID-19 vaccine just a week before the country’s rollout are “concerning”, according to the nation’s chief medical officer.
A Department of Health survey shows less that half of Australians are prepared to receive the vaccine as soon as it becomes available, though 71 per cent plan to get immunised by October.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) granted AstraZeneca vaccine approval for use in Australia on Tuesday after approving the Pfizer jab last month.
But chief medical officer Paul Kelly conceded the level of vaccine hesitancy was “concerning” just a week before the first Pfizer vaccines were administered in Australia.
“That demonstrates we need to continue to stress the vaccine as being safe and effective,” he said on Wednesday.
“The great news yesterday was that we now have a second vaccine that has had the full approval from the TGA.
“Please, when your turn comes, line up and get it. These vaccines will save lives.”
The survey shows 27 per cent of Australians would delay receiving the jab, while a further 9 per cent would refuse to get immunised altogether.
READ MORE:New mutant strain weakens vaccine
Rachel Baxendale5pm:Andrews says his UK variant take ‘facts, not rhetoric’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he was using “facts”, not rhetoric, when he spoke on Friday of the “hyper-infectivity”, “velocity” and “light speed” of the UK variant of coronavirus.
As The Weekend Australian reported on Saturday, according to the UK government executive agency Public Health England, a person who is infected with the UK variant of coronavirus will pass the virus on to 14.7 per cent of their close contacts, compared with 11 per cent for the original Wuhan strain of the virus, meaning the UK strain is roughly 34 per cent more infectious.
Of Victoria’s two most recent UK strain clusters, the first in a hotel quarantine worker at the Grand Hyatt was not transmitted to any other person, despite the man visiting a swathe of exposure sites over a busy weekend in Melbourne’s southeast, while the Holiday Inn cluster of 19 cases has been confined to residents and workers at the quarantine hotel and those who either live or ate a meal with them.
Asked whether he stood by his rhetoric about the extreme infectiousness of the UK strain, Mr Andrews said: “It’s not rhetoric. They’re facts.”
“If you want to sit here and dispute with me that this is a more infectious strain of the virus, then your argument is not actually with me, your argument is with the scientific consensus of the world,” Mr Andrews said.
“I really am not interested in having this debate. I said what I said on Friday. I stand by what I said on Friday.
“This strategy has worked not, if I might say, because of these sorts of exchanges. It’s worked because the Victorian community have proven equal to this, in fact better than it, and I’m deeply grateful to them and very proud of them.”
READ MORE:UK strain: false facts are more infectious
Rachel Baxendale4.35pm:‘Too many lockdowns’: Vic Chamber of Commerce
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra welcomed the end of the state’s lockdown, but said it was “paramount” that the state’s businesses didn’t have the “brick wall” of another lockdown imposed on them again.
“Victoria has seen too many of these. This is the third one,” Mr Guerra said.
“We stand here delighted today that business can get going again, but as we sprint out of this it’s paramount that businesses don’t have a brick wall put up in their faces ever again.
“We need to be able to manage hotel quarantine effectively, we need to get the contact tracing under control, and importantly we need to get the vaccine rolling out as well.
We need the confidence, every business across the state needs the confidence that they continue to operate in a way, not only just for today, but into the future as well.”
Mr Guerra said he estimated between $500m and $1bn had been lost over last weekend alone as a result of the lockdown.
“It probably would have been the busiest weekend that we’ve had for over a decade, so to lose that is just catastrophic for so many businesses across the state,” he said.
“We think the loss was somewhere between $500 million and a billion dollars to businesses just the weekend alone, and then you add Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday from construction and all businesses across the board.
“This has been an expensive delay, an expensive pause for business. But it’s happened. What we need to do is make sure that it never happens again.”
READ MORE:Coles warns of moderating supermarket growth
Rosie Lewis4pm:Ex-Liberal staffer accuses PM of ‘victim blaming’
Brittany Higgins, the former Liberal staffer who was allegedly raped by a colleague in then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ office, has accused Scott Morrison of “victim blaming” and says the government has questions to answer for their handling of the incident.
In a new statement released on Wednesday, Ms Higgins said she had only been made aware of key elements of her alleged sexual assault after going public.
“I didn’t know that security guards let me into Minister Reynolds’ suite. I didn’t know that a security guards (sic) came into the office multiple times seeing me in a state of undress. I didn’t know they were undertaking an internal review into how the matter was handled at the time. I didn’t know that they debated calling an ambulance at the time of the incident,” Ms Higgins said.
“The continued victim-blaming rhetoric by the Prime Minister is personally very distressing to me and countless other survivors.
“A current senior staffer to the Prime Minister and my former chief of staff refused to provide me with access to the CCTV footage from that evening and continually made me feel as if my ongoing employment would be jeopardised if I proceeded any further with the matter.
“The government has questions to answer for their own conduct.”
The Department of Parliamentary Services has said it did not provide access to the CCTV footage to Senator Reynolds or any other parliamentarian or staffer.
The Australian Federal Police viewed the footage, which has been stored in case the police need to watch it again for any investigation.
Scott Morrison was contacted for comment about Ms Higgins’ “victim blaming” claim.
READ MORE: Secret rape inquiry reveals guards’ alarm
Rhiannon Down3.55pm:From midnight, Melbourne no longer a hot spot: CMO
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says Melbourne will no longer be considered a hotspot when the lockdown is lifted from midnight.
“Last week I named greater Melbourne as a hotspot from a Commonwealth point of view,” Professor Kelly said.
“Just to remind everyone that that allows us to give further assistance, including financial assistance, to Victoria, to Melbourne, so that was due to be rescinded at midnight tonight. “And I can announce that that would go ahead on the basis of the information that has come out of Melbourne.”
Victoria will be set free from a five day snap lockdown at midnight tonight, after the state recorded zero locally acquired cases of COVID-19 today.
Professor Kelly said the “wonderful achievement” also made zero cases nationally out of 84,000 tests, with only 12 cases of COVID-19 in hospital
Rachel Baxendale3.45pm:Small business ombudsman call for lockdown compensation
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell called on the Andrews government to urgently provide support for businesses adversely affected by its five day lockdown.
“It is fantastic news that small businesses can open their doors again tomorrow, however, I am disappointed the Victorian government has not yet announced what it will do to support the thousands of small businesses forced to shut up shop for five days with next to no notice,” Ms Carnell said.
“The Victorian government needs to urgently compensate small businesses impacted by this snap lockdown, such as florists and restaurants that had their storage rooms packed with supplies ahead of Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year celebrations.
“Many … were expecting their busiest weekend of trade in months.
Ms Carnell said any package needed to cover lost stock such as perishable food and flowers, as well business costs such as staff wages and rent.
“We know a lot of small businesses have lost thousands of dollars worth of stock through no fault of their own,” she said.
“It is unreasonable to expect these small businesses to shoulder the cost of this snap lockdown, given the nightmarish 12 months these cash-strapped small businesses have already been through.”
READ MORE:Virus-hit Webjet pleads for borders clarity
OLIVIA CAISLEY3.26pm:‘Devastated’ Cash only recently aware of rape claim
Skills Minister Michaelia Cash says her former staffer, Brittany Higgins, first told her of the alleged rape earlier this month.
Senator Cash was close to tears as she told question time in the Upper House on Wednesday she was “absolutely devastated” by the alleged attack on her “valued staff member”.
“Like all of us in this chamber I’m absolutely devastated by what Brittany has gone through,” Senator Cash said. “Brittany was a valued member of my team for a year and a half.”
Senator Cash said Ms Higgins did not accept an offer to report the incident to the police or the Prime Minister’s Office.
Michaelia Cash was close to tears as she told QT she was "absolutely devastated" by the alleged attack on her former staffer, Brittany Higgins. She said she first learned of the alleged rape on Feb 5 and offered to go to the PMO and AFP with her. @australian#auspolpic.twitter.com/OujoH0fxtI
— Olivia Caisley (@livcaisley) February 17, 2021
“I only recently became aware of the alleged rape, when a journalist contacted my office for comment,” she said. “On Friday 5 February (Brittany and I) spoke and she disclosed details of what had occurred,” she said. “I told her I wanted her to stay in her role”
“I offered to go directly to the AFP with her so that she could provide them with a statement,” she said. “I said I would sit with her while she did this. She advised me she did not want to pursue it … I also offered to go to the Prime Minister’s office with her to raise the issue directly with them.
“ … I told Brittany that I would reluctantly accept her resignation. But I made it very clear from her. I was there for her.”
READ MORE: Gottliebsen — Submarine truth sinks in Reynolds grilling
Rachel Baxendale3.12pm:Lockdown ‘is not about politics’
Asked whether he was worried any future lockdown would be difficult to implement because his government expended social and political capital on the latest lockdown, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said: “I think nearly 40,000 people coming out and getting tested because we’ve asked them to would indicate that the community knows and understands how significant this is.”
“To be honest, it’s not about politics.
“I’ve got literally no interest in that, because it doesn’t work against this. Constant criticism, political point scoring, the loudest voices, which I don’t think speak for quite as many people as they say, they don’t work. Signs, graffiti, all this sort of thing, it doesn’t work against this virus.
“I know that this is a deeply emotional thing. There is pain, there is hurt. I understand that. What I am about doing is making sure that we at all times, we do everything we can to limit that. But it’s not over.
“We’ve got one pallet of vaccine’s turned up. That’s great news, but we haven’t got any in anyone’s arms yet. That’s a process. Some might see that as the moon landing. I think it’s the start of the end, it is not the end of this pandemic.”
Mr Andrews’ reference to the “moon landing” appeared to be a subtle dig at federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s declaration that “the eagle has landed” when the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived on Monday, and that “AstraZeneca is cleared for lift-off” when that vaccine was approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration on Tuesday.
No answers about international travellers
Mr Andrews said he had “no announcements to make” about when his state would resume taking international return travellers.
Victoria had been due to increase its weekly international arrival cap slightly from 1120 to 1310 from last Monday, but instead the scheme has been temporarily suspended altogether as a result of the latest Holiday Inn coronavirus cluster.
The state did not take international arrivals between July and December 2020 as it battled the second wave of coronavirus.
READ MORE: Carsales.com profits as used car prices boom
Rachel Baxendale2.43pm:Premier can’t guarantee no more future lockdowns
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to guarantee that he won’t impose more lockdowns on Victorians should similar clusters to that emanating from the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel emerge.
“I can provide no guarantees because I’m not prepared to pretend to the Victorian community that this is over, and the nature of urgent decisions means that there can be some notice period but we don’t have the luxury of giving people a month’s notice,” Mr Andrews said.
“I’m just not in the business of ignoring advice. I’m not in the business of shopping around for advice that suits me.
“The only thing that suits all of us is to keep control of this, and yes, there’s pain and difficulty in we’ve acknowledged that and we will make announcements in good time about support for those who are doing it tough, but the urgent nature and the rapid nature of these decisions speaks to the rapid infectivity of this virus and nothing more that.”
Asked what his criteria would be for imposing another lockdown, Mr Andrews said each case would be treated on its merits.
“If the public health team believes that because of the infectiousness of particularly these new strains, that there could be other cases out there spreading wildly, then we will not hesitate to make the tough decisions,” Mr Andrews said.
“I will just make the point to you, not a unique approach. It’s happened in Brisbane, it’s happened in Perth, it’s happened in New South Wales, in different forms. It’s happened in Adelaide. I think that’s probably the most similar one.
New South Wales has not imposed a statewide lockdown since the whole of Australia locked down in March 2020, despite dealing with numerous instances of community transmission.
READ MORE: Lockdown lunacy is frying our minds
Rachel Baxendale2.33pm: Andrews seeks to justify Victoria’s lockdown
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has sought to justify his five day lockdown of 6.5 million Victorians by arguing that the number of close contacts to the Holiday Inn coronavirus cluster would have been much larger had the lockdown not been imposed on Friday.
However, the cluster of 19 cases has not extended beyond immediate close contacts of people who were at the Holiday Inn, all of whom were isolating before the lockdown was imposed.
“When you think about it, we have 3400 close contacts,” Mr Andrews said.
“If we had been open throughout this outbreak, then that number would not be 3400, it would be much, much higher than that.
“Total case numbers would be much, much higher than that, and it is a certainty that I would not be reporting zero cases today, and the fact that restrictions are coming off. I would, in all likelihood, and indeed beyond that, I’d be reporting a different set of circumstances. We’ve avoided that.”
The 19 members of the coronavirus cluster are all either Holiday Inn residents, workers, their household members, or people who dined at a private event in Coburg, in Melbourne’s north on February 6, at which an infectious Holiday Inn worker was present.
READ MORE:What you can and can’t do in Victoria from midnight
Adeshola Ore2.14pm: PM stands by timeline of his knowledge of rape claims
Scott Morrison has told parliament he stands by his timeline that his office only became aware of the alleged rape of a former Liberal Party staffer on Friday.
On Wednesday, Labor used question time to press the Prime Minister on his knowledge of the alleged assault of Brittany Higgins.
Linda Reynold’s chief of staff, and primary point of contact for Ms Higgins at the time of the alleged incident, had previously worked for the Prime Minister and subsequently returned to work with the Prime Minister.
“And it is not common practice, in my understanding, that when staff move between offices, that they disclose matters of other offices.” Mr Morrison said.
“It is my advice that our office became aware of this issue on February 12 of this year.”
Ms Higgins on Monday disclosed she had allegedly been raped by a more senior member of Senator Reynolds’s staff in her office in the early hours of a Saturday morning in 2019 and felt she was forced to choose between reporting it to the police or keeping her job.
READ MORE: Secret rape inquiry reveals guards’ alarm
Joseph Lam2.02pm:Youth publisher latest to strike Google deal
Youth Publish Junkee Media has become the latest Australian media outlet to strike a deal with Google as the federal government continues its push for a media bargaining code to become law.
“We’re extremely pleased with the outcome of this deal,” Junkee Media chief executive Neil Ackland told AdNews.
“This is a significant investment that will allow us to set up a content infrastructure that will ensure Junkee’s sustainability well into the future.”
The announcement arrived just hours after it was revealed Nine Entertainment Co also struck a deal with Google.
Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva said the Junkee deal built on its almost 50-strong media partnerships, which include The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The New Daily, Seven News and The Newcastle Herald.
“There are now almost 50 Australian media titles signed onto Showcase, with a total of 500 worldwide,” she said.
READ MORE: Google, Nine strike $30m content deal
Agencies1.37pm:Japan vaccinates first citizens against virus
Japan administered its first vaccination on Wednesday morning at Tokyo hospital as the east Asian began its COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Tokyo Medical Centre director Kazuhiro Araki was the first Japanese citizen to receive the vaccine.
“The vaccine plays an important role in anti-coronavirus measures. So I thought as a director I should take the lead and get the shot,” he told reporters.
“I don’t like getting shots very much, but it wasn’t painful, so it was good. I was relieved.” Nurse Rino Yoshida also received the jab.
“I felt it going in but it wasn’t sore. There’s no real pain or swelling,” she told national broadcaster NHK.
“The mortality rate and the risk of illness have gone down overseas, so hopefully vaccinations starting in Japan can change the situation here,” she said.
Japan is planning to initially vaccinate 40,000 healthcare workers across the country, and will study the effects of the two-dose vaccine on 20,000 of them.
Doses will be administered three weeks apart, with the people in the study group asked to keep daily records of any side effects or reactions, local media said.
The country then hopes to vaccinate around 3.7 million health workers from March — with jabs for around 36 million people aged 65 or older starting from April. — AFP
READ MORE: Virus-hit Webjet pleads for clarity on borders
Adeshola Ore 1.29pm:Frydenberg defends relaxation of disclosure laws
Josh Frydenberg has defended the Morrison government’s permanent relaxation of continuous disclosure laws.
The Morrison government has introduced a bill to parliament today to make permanent changes to stock market disclosure laws it legislated under emergency COVID powers in May last year.
Companies will only be liable for civil penalty proceedings regarding breaches of the laws if they have acted with “knowledge, recklessness or negligence”.
Mr Frydenberg said the reforms would still ensure there was a route to bring “civil actions” for breaches of continuous disclosure laws.
“But there has to be a fault. It has to be reckless. It has to be negligent or fraudulent. That is really important,” he said.
“It is really important that we have a balance here. Where the regulation provides the opportunity for transparency, for accountability, for actions to be brought, but, at the same time, it doesn’t create an undue burden on the corporate sector.”
READ MORE:Construction, restaurants lead business collapses
Adeshola Ore12.59pm: ‘Media code bill smoothed path for Google deals’
Josh Frydenberg says reports that Google has struck deals with Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment Co to pay for their news content would not have happened without the government’s bargaining code which it is preparing to pass in parliament.
“This legislation, this world leading mandatory code, is bringing the parties to the table,” he said.
“It is our intention to make it law … this code has succeeded where others have tried and failed.”
Speaking in Canberra, Mr Frydenberg thanked digital giants and news companies for their “good faith” in entering into negotiations.
On Tuesday, a Labor spokesperson confirmed the party would vote to support the amended legislation.
The code is designed to ensure media companies are compensated for the use of their content on search engines and social media platforms.
Mr Frydenberg said the commercial negotiations looked “promising.”
He said the government remained committed to legislating the code and keeping digital giants like Google in Australia.
“Google had talked about leaving Australia. We never wanted that. They are an important part of the digital landscape.”
READ MORE: Google, Nine strike $30m content deal
Staff writers 12.24pm: What you can and can’t do in Victoria from midnight
Daniel Andrews has announced that Victoria’s snap five-day lockdown in response to the Melbourne airport Holiday Inn outbreak will end at 11.59pm on Wednesday. Here’s what the new rules involve:
READ MORE: Miners, Westpac up as ASX slides
Joseph Lam12.14pm:Two Auckland students infected with Covid
New Zealand has recorded three new cases of COVID-19 overnight, with two cases transmitted locally and one in hotel quarantine.
The New Zealand Ministry of Health confirmed that the locally-transmitted cases are students from Papatoetoe High School, Auckland, who are linked to previously reported cases.
The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 49, from a total of 1984 since the pandemic began.
On Tuesday, 17,439 tests were recorded bringing the total number of tests to 1,613,211.
READ MORE: PM hits back at Ardern criticism
David Ross 12.09am:Lockdown-hit business ‘needs a JobKeeper substitute’
The peak body for Australian accountants is calling on the federal and state government to deliver financial support for businesses that are hit by lockdowns.
CPA Australia CEO Andrew Hunter said the recent run of snap lockdowns has dealt serious damage to the balance sheets of thousands of Australian businesses and no recompense had been provided.
“We’ve been living with COVID-19 for more than a year now. JobKeeper ends next month and we still don’t have a substitute for businesses that are compulsorily closed or those otherwise impacted by lockdowns, such as suppliers and customers outside the lockdown areas,” he said.
“However, it seems businesses are being treated as an afterthought when making lockdown decisions. If governments are going to rip the rug out from under them at short notice, they need to provide a safety net.”
Mr Hunter said governments should create a standardised, scalable and targeted payment that could be rapidly delivered to businesses hit by snap lockdowns.
READ MORE: Spending slumps 41pc as lockdown bites
Sarah Elks11.48am:Premier outlines hub plan for infected returned travellers
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says returned travellers diagnosed with COVID-19 in a possible Toowoomba quarantine hub would be taken by ambulance to a Brisbane hospital.
Ms Palaszczuk has defended the amount of information the state has provided to the commonwealth government about the proposal, which would see a regional hub built near the Wagner family’s Wellcamp airport outside Toowoomba.
Asked on Wednesday where COVID-19 patients would be treated, she said: “they will be (put) in an ambulance (and) taken to a Brisbane hospital”.
Ms Palaszczuk said quarantine was not just a state responsibility.
“Just like the vaccine is a shared responsibility, quarantine is a shared responsibility,” she said.
“It’s a bit rich for the Commonwealth to be rejecting, and saying it’s a state’s responsibility.”
“We’re working very closely with the commonwealth … there is dialogue that is happening, but we would like to see – now that you’ve seen Victoria (and WA looking at regional quarantine) … it makes sense.”
“Our hotels were not meant to be controlling infectious diseases.”
READ MORE: Escape puts city on the defence
Rhys Blakely11.36am: New mutant strain weakens vaccine
A new variant of the coronavirus with a worrying cluster of mutations has been identified in the UK, leading to calls for further enhanced testing to contain its spread.
The variant, known as B1525, has been identified 33 times, according to University of Edinburgh researchers. It was first spotted in the UK on December 15 and then about two weeks later in Nigeria. It contains the E484K mutation, which appears to lessen the effectiveness of existing vaccines and is also seen in strains of the virus that appear to have originated in South Africa and in Manaus in Brazil.
It also contains two mutations known as deletions. One has shown signs in laboratory tests of increasing the virus’s ability to infect new cells; the other appears to make some types of antibody work less well. — The Times
READ the full story here
YONI BASHAN11.23am:NSW frontline workers to be vaccinated on Monday
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccinations will be deployed to frontline health and quarantine workers from Monday, with the NSW government announcing a three-week program that will cover 35,000 people.
The Pfizer vaccine will be delivered from three hubs in Sydney, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying the development signalled a “new phase” in the effort against the ongoing pandemic.
“While the scale is not large to begin with … we anticipate the scale will increase,” she said. “We’ll update the community on who will be in line (for further vaccination) after the three weeks.”
Ms Berejiklian said the initial delivery of vaccinations would focus on health workers that are
“highly exposed” to the virus, including ambulance officers, police officers, and officials who administer COVID-19 tests.
“Our aim is to have every single quarantine worker have the vaccine,” she added.
The premier also warned that the vaccine development would not lead to any reduction in standards around hotel quarantine arrangements. Overnight there were no new cases of the virus from approximately 23,000 tests, officials said.
“If anything we need to be more vigilant,” Ms Berejiklian said.
READ MORE: Bluesfest gets the nod for safety plan
Joseph Lam11.21am: NSW hits 31 days without local virus transmission
NSW has recorded four new cases of COVID-19 among overseas returned travellers and zero locally-acquired cases.
Wednesday marks 31 days since a locally-acquired case of COVID-19 has been transmitted in the state.
NSW recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) February 17, 2021
Four new cases were acquired overseas, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,954. pic.twitter.com/9ZtLrcXRnn
The number of tests in NSW almost doubled overnight, with 23,463 tests recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm compared to 12,336 on Monday.
NSW will end its five-day lockdown at midnight for anyone who has returned from Victoria since Friday February 12.
Sarah Elks11.14am:Gold Coast health workers first Queenslanders to get jabs
Queensland’s first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will go to frontline health workers on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and in Cairns.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she needed the commonwealth government to “guarantee the supply”.
“If the supply comes in over this weekend, the plan is for the first 100 vaccines of Pfizer to be given on the Gold Coast on Monday,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
People at the Princess Alexandra will receive the vaccine on Wednesday, and then doses will be administered in Cairns on Friday, she said.
Over the next month, about 27,000 frontline workers — including in hotel quarantine — will be vaccinated, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said.
The following month, the vaccine will be extended to the broader population.
No new cases were recorded overnight in Queensland, and the state has just six active cases.
Dr Young said 100 people at the Gold Coast University Hospital would receive the vaccine on Monday, provided the jabs were supplied by the Commonwealth.
She said hotel quarantine and frontline health workers would receive the first dose, and that hospital was the first in Queensland to treat a COVID-19 case.
Dr Young advised that, at this stage, pregnant and breastfeeding women should not be vaccinated, until there is more evidence.
READ MORE: First to be infected no longer protected
Greg Brown 11.08am: Joyce amendment delays power projects vote
The Morrison government will delay a vote to establish a $1 billion fund to invest in dispatchable power projects after Barnby Joyce moved an amendment that would allow it to support new coal-fired power stations.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the government needed to consider the amendment proposed by Mr Joyce to the Grid Reliability Fund.
“This is the first time we have seen this amendment. It is important that we take an opportunity to consider what has been put forward,” Mr Taylor said.
“The government has other programs available to it such as (underwriting new generation investments program) to support coal projects, and is supporting a feasibility study into a HELE coal project in Queensland.
“This is in stark contrast to Labor who have walked away from Australian workers in the coal sector.”
READ MORE:Solar pushing coal plants to early extinction
Joseph Lam10.54am: $3000 grants on offer for Victoria’s landlords
Commercial landlords will be eligible for grants of up to $3000 under a new round of funding from the Victorian government.
Business Victoria announced the second round of grants on Wednesday in support of landlords who reduced rent for their tenants between January 1 and March 28.
Small commercial landlords who have reduced rent for tenants can receive support under the Commercial Landlord Hardship Fund Round 2, with grants of up to $3000 per tenancy. For information and to apply, visit âž¡ï¸ https://t.co/YfdiPrvgex.
— Business Victoria (@businessvic) February 16, 2021
Applications are open until 28 March. pic.twitter.com/2eU9pmYfX7
Single properties with multiple owners will have their grants split according to their share.
Grant amounts will be equal to the amount of rent waived per eligible tenancy.
Business Victoria defined a rent waiver as where some, or all, of the rent owed for an agreed period of time is never paid.
READ MORE: International student ban cost $9bn
Rosie Lewis 10.45am:Reynolds: no contact with staffer at centre of rape claims
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, who has been embroiled in controversy after it was revealed one of her former staffers was allegedly raped by a colleague in her ministerial office nearly two years ago, says she has had no contact with the alleged perpetrator since he was sacked.
Senator Reynolds would not confirm on Tuesday if she had provided the man a job reference when grilled over her contact with him but on Wednesday confirmed she had not.
“Since the individual in question left my office I have had no contact with him and I have provided no references,” she said.
READ MORE: Crossbench on front foot over IR
Joseph Lam10.31am: Victoria’s lockdown to end at midnight: Andrews
Daniel Andrews has announced that almost all restrictions will end at midnight on Wednesday as Victoria ends its snap five-day lockdown.
The Victorian Premier said he was pleased to announce the easing of restrictions after Victoria recorded a record number of tests, seeing 39,258 processed in a single 24-hour period.
“This is not over, there are still nine days to go for the 14 day period of the last of the positive cases,” he said.
“Next Friday we’ll be able to be more definitive.”
Mr Andrews announced that masks would remain compulsory indoors and outdoors where social distancing was not possible and visitors to homes would be restricted to five.
He said outdoor gatherings would be confined to 20,
Schools will be able to reopen tomorrow and workplaces can return to 50 per cent capacity.
Under the new rules funerals and weddings will only face the limits of their venues meanwhile places of worship and schools will reopen.
Victorian residents will be allowed to travel outside the five-kilometre boundary rules previously applied and the number of household visitors and people allowed to gather in public will increase to five and 20 respectively.
Both public and private sectors will be allowed to return to work at a 50 per cent capacity and face masks will be required both indoors and outdoors when social distancing isn’t possible.
Visits to care facilities will be limited to one person per household.
“The last thing we want is for a person to be visiting a relative and making other sick,” Mr Andrews said.
READ MORE:It will take a village to fix quarantine carry-on
Rachel Baxendale10am:Premier pushed to make amends to small business
Ahead of the expected announcement of an end to Victoria’s lockdown, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has called for support for small businesses and workers adversely affected, and for predictable, proportionate responses to coronavirus outbreaks in future.
“This has been so difficult for Victorians, to go into lockdown a third time,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We’ve seen the mental health implications of this with record calls to Lifeline, we’ve seen small businesses smashed, we’ve seen kids kept from the classroom.
“It’s got to end, and it really needs to end today, and once we open up again, once this state opens up again we need to stay open.
“We can’t keep having this yo-yo, where we open then close then open again. Schools are open, schools are closed. Businesses are open, businesses are closed. Masks on, masks off. We just need to get it right. If the government gets it right, we can all get on with our lives.
“If the government gets hotel quarantine right and they get contact tracing right, we can get on with our lives. New South Wales has done it, New South Wales is doing it. That’s the model for Victoria: good contact tracing, good hotel quarantine, proportionate responses, stay open. That’s where we need to be.”
Mr O’Brien questioned the need for regional Victoria to have been locked down, but said he would not be an “armchair commentator” on whether the lockdown was ever necessary in the first place.
“In other states where they’ve had lockdowns, even snap lock downs, such as in Queensland and Western Australia, it was Brisbane and Perth that were locked down, not the entire state,” he said.
“I think regional Victoria’s been really hard done by in this. Whether it was panicked or not, I’m not going to be an armchair commentator, I’m assuming the government acted on the health advice they had at the time, but the point is it shouldn’t have leaked out.
“My concern isn’t as much with the response, as the fact that we got locked down because the government stuffed up hotel quarantine again and stuffed up contact tracing again.”
Mr O’Brien also hit out at the Andrews government’s “overblown rhetoric” regarding the infectiousness of the UK strain of coronavirus.
“We had the Australian Open hotel quarantine person walking around all the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, and apparently didn’t infect anyone,” he said.
“It’s not really consistent with what the government says about this being wildly infectious. Yes, it is more infectious than the 2020 strain, but I think the government is just relying on spin to try and scare people rather than admitting that its mistakes have led to this virus escaping.”
READ MORE:Gold standard in the politics of fear
Joseph Lam9.55am:Avalon Airport makes pitch for quarantine facility
Avalon Airport has presented a draft of a cabin-style quarantine facility concept to the Victorian government.
Chief executive officer Justin Giddings on Wednesday said the quarantine facility would minimise the need for frontline workers, as guests would not need to leave the airport.
“Our idea is to bring passengers directly to either by walking to the quarantine facility which consists of cabins,” he said.
“Having fully self-contained, the guests can actually treat it like their own home for two weeks.”
Mr Giddings said the deal was not about making money but repatriating Australians and international students.
“We’re hopeful and confident we can really produce something special. Even if this does end, we can then relocate these cabins for affordable uses.”
READ MORE:Labor deputy joins push for quarantine facility
Rachel Baxendale9.45am:Daniel Andrews to deliver update at 10.15am
Victoria’s Premier is expected to announce the end of the state’s five day lockdown when he addresses the media. He will be joined by Health Minister Martin Foley, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar.
Joseph Lam9.35am:Google signs $30m content deal with Nine
Nine Entertainment Co has signed a deal with Google to receive more than $30 million per year for use of its content.
An agreement was reached overnight for the use of content from the company’s television, newspaper, radio and digital assets, Nine-owned newspaper Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.
SMH described the deal as “a major breakthrough” for the search engine giant which faces oncoming media bargaining laws.
“If the letters signed by Nine and Seven turn into commercial agreements, they will allow Google to avoid a risky arbitration process, but media executives still believe the legislation is crucial to ensure tech companies pay for news content and contribute to funding public-interest journalism. It will also prevent Google from backing out of the arrangements,” read the article.
The a letter on intent for a five-year deal was signed last night with final commercial agreement expected within weeks.
READ MORE:Big tech to pay annual charge
Adeshola Ore9.30am:Turnbull condemns Morrison’s office ‘failure’
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says it is inconceivable that Scott Morrison’s office only became aware of the alleged rape of a former Liberal Party staffer on Friday.
On Tuesday, Mr Morrison told Parliament his office only knew of the rape allegation made by Brittany Higgins on February 12, last Friday. Ms Higgins said Mr Morrison’s principal private secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, contacted her to “check in” around the time the ABC’s Four Corners program into sexual harassment in parliament was aired last year. Government sources deny that call was ever made.
“I find it incredible, that’s to say very, very, very hard to believe, that the Prime Minister’s office would not have been aware of that incident as soon as it occurred and would not have been aware of the complaints that Brittany was making.” Mr Turnbull told the ABC.
“I mean, if they weren’t, it was a complete failure of the system.”
READ MORE:The persuasive powers of Jenny Morrison
Adeshola Ore9.20am:‘Contradictions’ in PM’s account on Reynolds staffer
Anthony Albanese says there a “a lot of contradictions” in Scott Morrison’s account about when he became aware of the alleged rape of a former Liberal Party staffer.
Scott Morrison is standing by Senator Reynolds, saying he was made aware of the sexual assault allegations only on Monday morning after it became public.
But in an interview with Channel 10, Ms Higgins said Mr Morrison’s principal private secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, contacted her to “check in” around the time the ABC’s Four Corners program into sexual harassment in parliament was aired last year. Government sources deny that call was ever made.
Mr Albanese said he believed the account of Ms Higgins that she was contacted by Mr Finkelstein.
“I think she is entitled to be believed,” he told Sky News.
“It seems to me pretty clear if I was Prime Minister and these events had occurred and a minister in my cabinet had kept any information from me and my office they wouldn’t be maintaining that position.”
READ MORE:How guards sounded the alarm
LISA ALLEN 9.09am: Travel agency takes 90pc hit amid tourism devastation
In a sign of the devastating impact COVID-19 is having on the global tourism industry, online travel agency Webjet has reported a $112.4m loss for the half year to December 31 with its total transaction values dropping nearly 90 per cent.
Webjet chairman Roger Sharp said the company would not provide an earnings guidance nor pay a dividend for the 2021 financial year.
“Further the company has deferred payment of its FY20 interim dividend payment which was due to be paid on 16 April, 2021. It will be reviewed again following 1H22 results later this year,” Mr Sharp said.
However, Webjet says it is reducing its cash burn and has managed to get its lending waivers extended until March 31, 2022.
FOLLOWlive ASX updates at Trading Day
Adeshola Ore 8.55am: PM must clarify timeline over rape allegations: Keneally
Labor’s deputy Senate leader Kristina Keneally has urged the Prime Minister to clarify his timeline on when he became aware of the alleged rape of a former Liberal Party staffer.
On Tuesday, Scott Morrison told parliament he was made aware of the sexual assault allegations on Monday morning after it became public. In an interview with Channel 10, the victim of the alleged rape Brittany Higgins said Mr Morrison’s principal private secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, contacted her to “check in” around the time the ABC’s Four Corners program into sexual harassment in parliament was aired last year. Government sources deny that call was ever made.
“That statement is at odds with Brittany Higgins in her interview,” Senator Keneally told Sky News.
“It is also at odds with the very statement the Prime Minister’s office put out after that interview went to air … It said the Prime Minister’s office was providing support to Minister Reynolds’ back in March in assessing the statement of standards for ministerial standards that had been breached. So it’s one or the other.”
“When the Minister for Defence and the Prime Minister can’t even get their story straight, they are compounding the trauma of Brittany Higgins.”
Some advisers in the Prime Minister’s office were told about the alleged incident but maintain they were only informed that it was a security breach.
Senator Keneally said the alleged rape of the former Liberal staffer points to an “ongoing culture of cover-up” in federal parliament.
The Australian has reported a parliamentary inquiry has secretly been looking into rape allegations in the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds after security guards raised concerns about the handling of the matter. Senators were told in confidential submissions that reports about the March 23, 2019, incident filed by the parliament guards were changed to remove details and soften graphic language describing how Ms Higgins was found.
“To hear that parliament house security had concerns about the way this was being handled, there has been a resignation, there has been softening of languages — these are highly concerning reports,” she told Sky News.
“It goes to a culture here in the parliament where women, understandably, no longer feel safe and that’s a huge statement to make.”
READ MORE:Traumatised staffer needed help
Joseph Lam8.48am: Victorian business ‘needs clarity’ on restrictions
Business says Victoria needs to return to the conditions it had last Friday at a minimum to give the state a fighting chance at surviving fallout from the pandemic.
“There was a confidence coming back into the Victorian economy and the CBD was beginning to buzz,” Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guera said. “It was flying.”
Mr Guerra said clarity is needed on the easing of restrictions so businesses can prepare to trade.
”It’s time to give business what they need so Victorians can get back to work,” Mr Guerra said.
“It’s really important, not just for metropolitan Melbourne but across the state.
“There’s businesses out there that haven’t seen the virus for 12 months but are operating under the same rules as metro Melbourne.”
READ MORE: Domain has no plans to return $8.3m JobKeeper payments
Adeshola Ore8.44am:Vaccinations won’t be mandatory for aged-care workers
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck says the federal government will not make vaccinations mandatory for aged-care workers because there is no current evidence that it stops transmission of COVID-19.
From Monday, the Morrison government will begin vaccinating more than 500,000 nursing home residents and their carers. Some providers are urging the nation’s chief health officers to make COVID jabs for nursing home employees compulsory.
Senator Colbeck said the decision to not mandate vaccinations for aged-care workers was “based on evidence.”
“The AHPPC deliberately hasn’t made a recommendation with respect to the COVID vaccine because we don’t know yet whether it prevents transmission. That’s why,” he told the ABC.
“That’s why we are vaccinating residents first because they are the ones at risk so they are the first ones to get the vaccinations.”
“The issue for us is understanding whether or not the vaccine prevents transmission which provides the barrier between the virus in the community transmitting via workforce to residents.”
Vaccination of residential aged-care workers remains voluntary on the advice of the Australian Health Primary Protection Committee. Nursing home workers are required to have the flu vaccine as a condition of their employment.
READ MORE: Make jabs a must for our workers, aged-care bosses say
Rachel Baxendale8.35am: Victorians set for freedom with 0 new cases
Victoria has recorded no new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to Tuesday night, paving the way for a reopening after the state’s five day lockdown from 11:59pm on Wednesday.
The number of active cases in the state remains 25 – 19 of which are linked to the Holiday Inn cluster.
Yesterday there were no new cases reported. 39,258 test results were received. Thank you to those who got tested - #EveryTestHelps.
— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) February 16, 2021
More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/wwxoVJo63W
The latest figures come after 39,258 tests were processed on Tuesday.
READ MORE:Albrechtsen — Andrews sets the gold standard in politics of fear
Adeshola Ore8.21am:AstraZeneca jab ‘safe for Australians over 65’
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck has reassured Australians that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for those over 65, after the jab was approved by the country’s health regulator.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration provisionally approved AstraZeneca against coronavirus, making the jab the second COVID vaccine to be approved in Australia.
The regulator said the decision to vaccinate those aged over 65 with the AstraZeneca jab should be assessed on a “case-by-case basis.” But head of the TGA Professor John Skerritt said there was no upper age limit for the AstraZeneca vaccine. He said the regulator’s analysis of the vaccine had produced no data to suggest the vaccine would be less efficacious in older groups,
“The TGA wouldn’t have approved it for all ages if it wasn’t suitable, safe and efficacious for all ages,” Senator Colbeck told the ABC.
Most Australians will be given the AstraZeneca vaccine, with the first batch of over three million doses set to arrive in Australia in early March.
READ MORE: TGA gives approval to AstraZeneca vaccine
Rachel Baxendale 8.16am: Andrews, senior team meeting over lockdown ending
A meeting is underway between Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his senior ministers, to sign off on what is expected to be an easing of the state’s five day lockdown from 11.59pm on Wednesday evening.
The Holiday Inn cluster, which sparked the lockdown on Friday, has not extended beyond Holiday Inn workers, residents or their immediate close contacts, meaning all those within the cluster would have been in isolation regardless of the lockdown of more than 6.5 million people.
Following the meeting, which began at 8am, Mr Andrews is expected to address the media, before a sitting of state parliament’s Legislative Assembly begins at midday.
READ MORE: Better solution than hotel quarantine?
Joseph Lam7.51am:Australian Open now faces crowd control issues
Infectious Diseases Physician Sanjaya Senanayake says the Australian Open may have to follow the Sydney Cricket Ground in terms of crowd control as Victoria’s snap lockdown likely ends tonight.
Crowd control will ultimately depend on cases seen in the next few days, Professor Senanayake said.
“I think we have to remember even if restrictions disappear after midnight this outbreak still isn’t over,” he said.
“If we start to see a few unlinked cases in the next few days that might completely change the number of people turning up to the Australian Open.”
“If they do turn up, we may have to do something similar to the SCG.”
READ MORE:Serena and Osaka carry stunning streaks into Australian Open semi-finals
Joseph Lam7am:Victoria’s builders lose millions during snap lockdown
Victoria’s building industry has lost $455 million per day during the state’s snap lockdown, shutting down for the first time throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson said the construction industry — which she said accounted for 45 per cent of state revenue — had suffered substantial losses over the past few days.
“Building and construction has been the only sector that hasn’t received any funding from the state government,” she said.
“This is the first time our industry has been shut down in this way, especially given that our sector has proven to operate safely.”
Ms Casson projects Victoria’s construction industry lost $455 million in revenue and $63 million in wages daily, with some builders losing as much as $400,000 per day.
While the industry was more than ready to get back to work on Thursday, there are fears for the end of the government’s HomeBuilder grant.
“The program resulted in a massive spike in the uptake,” she said. “It really has started to generate a lot of uplift in Victoria.
“There’s a lot of nervousness around the end of the Home Builder program.”
Master Builders Victoria informed â¦@WINNews_Balâ© of what the lockdown of the industry means: https://t.co/z1yay9IDZi
— Master Builders Victoria (@mbavic) February 15, 2021
READ MORE:Building industry faces wave of company collapses
Joseph Lam6.30am:Sth Australia police in QR check-in crackdown
Businesses and venues using QR check-in systems must move to protect patron data from Wednesday under new rules introduced by South Australia police.
The new rules require check-in data be “kept in a manner which reduces the risk of them being copied, photographed or used by another person (other than an authorised officer)”.
Any copies of this data must be kept secure and away from the eternal public.
New rules also prevent anyone who has travelled from Victoria from entering an aged-care facility.
Medi-hotel site employees are no longer allowed to enter high-risk settings including residential aged-care facilities, correctional facilities and Aboriginal communities. Employees will be required to submit daily saliva tests except on days when they undertake a PCR COVID-19 test.
Updates have been made to the COVID-19 Directions in South Australia. For information visit: https://t.co/STMHD8R1YMpic.twitter.com/fKG9fvP6qx
— South Australia Police (@SAPoliceNews) February 16, 2021
READ MORE:Lockdown scapegoats picking up the pizzas
Jess Malcolm4.55am: End of Victoria’s snap lockdown confirmed
Victoria’s snap five-day lockdown will end at 11.59pm tonight if cases remain stable this morning.
Premier Daniel Andrews last night met with senior government ministers to finalise plans to end the lockdown on Thursday, as reported by the Herald Sun.
The state will return to similar restrictions to what were imposed before the “circuit breaker” lockdown, with masks required indoors and some tougher rules on household gatherings to remain.
Crowds will return to the Australian Open, and schools will be allowed back to classrooms.
The Premier was not ready to commit to announce any easing of restrictions on Wednesday morning, calling the next 24 hours “crucial”.
This comes as Victoria recorded two new cases of community transmission, all connected to the Holiday Inn cluster.
READ MORE:It will take a village to fix quarantine carry-on
Ben Packham4.45am:Leading scientists refused grants over China fears
Top scientists at Australian universities have been denied lucrative taxpayer-funded research grants on national security grounds, as the federal government cracks down on projects that could hand military or economic advantage to foreign adversaries.
The Australian can reveal that, in the first decision of its kind, five applicants for Australian Research Council grants were blocked from receiving funding of up to $500,000 a year on the orders of former education minister Dan Tehan.
Mr Tehan refused approval last December after national security agencies subjected 18 ARC grant applications to additional checks. The move followed a storm of criticism over the close links of dozens of Australian scientists to Chinese Communist Party talent programs, which aim to transfer foreign technologies to China, particularly those with military applications.
Read the full story here.
Alice Workman4.30am:Secret rape inquiry probes security guard concerns
A parliamentary inquiry has secretly been looking into rape allegations in the office of Defence Minister Linda Reynolds after security guards raised concerns about the handling of the matter.
Senators were told in confidential submissions that reports about the March 23, 2019, incident filed by the parliament guards were changed to remove details and soften graphic language describing how Senator Reynolds’s former adviser Brittany Higgins was found.
Several Coalition and Labor senators have known for months about the allegations — made public by Ms Higgins on Monday — and the possibility that the Department of Parliamentary Services destroyed significant evidence by immediately steam-cleaning the office, a claim first reported by news.com.au. The inquiry into the DPS, which has received 17 confidential submissions from current and former staff members, was also told that senior departmental officers were quick to take control in the hours after the alleged rape.
Read the full story, by Alice Workman and Rosie Lewis, here.
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