PoliticsNow: Victoria’s DHHS secretary Kym Peake resigns
Kym Peake is the third key leader of the Andrews government’s pandemic response to resign after the quarantine hotels inquiry.
- DHHS secretary Peake quits
- Regulator flags March vaccine rollout
- Proof economy is on the rebound
- Unions slam Dreyfus on climate
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the latest news in politics and Australia’s coronavirus recovery. A third key leader of the Andrews government’s pandemic response has resigned, with Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kym Peake stepping down. Scott Morrison will set up a special prosecutor to deal with any Australian servicemen accused of war crimes in Afghanistan, with the findings of the Brereton Inquiry to be released next week. Rogue Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has called on Anthony Albanese to take the climate change portfolio away from opposition frontbencher Mark Butler.
Remy Varga 9pm: Andrews ‘waxed lyrical’ on donor
Daniel Andrews requested the phone number of an allegedly corrupt property developer to say “things are OK” and thank him for state election donations, according to a secretly recorded phone call between a lobbyist and a donor.
Labor aligned lobbyist Phil Staindl further told John Woodman that the Victorian Premier had “waxed lyrical” about his contribution to the seats of Ringwood and Ferntree Gully at the 2018 state election.
The evidence to the Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission comes as Mr Andrews on Thursday maintained he did not speak to Mr Woodman about his projects.
AFP 8.40pm: Germany sees tentative signs of virus curve flattening
Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, the head of the country’s disease control agency RKI said on Thursday.
“The curve is flattening,” said Lothar Wieler, adding that it “shows that we are not helpless against this virus” and that restrictions such as social distancing and mask wearing can help halt the march of COVID-19.
AFP 7.50pm: HK resignations a ‘challenge’ to authority: China
China has warned the mass resignations of pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong were a “blatant challenge” to its authority over the city.
Fifteen legislators were set to quit the chamber in protest at the Beijing-sanctioned ousting of four colleagues, leaving the assembly a muted gathering of government loyalists.
The resignations come with the city’s beleaguered pro-democracy movement and avenues of dissent already under sustained attack since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law this year.
Half of the group had made good on their pledge by Thursday afternoon, which sparked a furious response from Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
“It once again showed their stubborn confrontation against the central government and a blatant challenge to the power of the central government. We severely condemn this,” a statement said on Thursday.
“We have to tell these opposition lawmakers, that if they want to use this to advocate a radical fight, and beg for foreign forces to interfere, and once again drag Hong Kong into chaos, that’s a wrong calculation.” Inside the chamber, government loyalists discussed a transport bill, but without any of the rambunctious debate that has been the mark of Hong Kong’s semi-democracy in recent years.
READ MORE: US threatens more China sanctions over Hong Kong MPs’ ousting
Yoni Bashan 7.10pm: States plug in to electric vehicle tax switch
The NSW government will strongly consider the introduction of an electric vehicle tax similar to a scheme proposed by South Australia this week, with Treasurer Dominic Perrottet looking to introduce a user-charge policy to cabinet within the next year.
Mr Perrottet will forgo introduction of an electric vehicle tax in next week’s state budget but is continuing discussions with interstate counterparts about the ¬design of a user charge that could be taken up nationally for electric vehicles.
“There is no doubt that as we increasingly transition to electric vehicles, we need to look at how all motorists pay a fair and equitable share for road usage,” he told The Australian.
“You don’t want to stifle new technology, but on the other hand it’s hardly fair for tradies in utes to pay a tax that someone who can afford a $100,000 hi-tech car does not.”
AFP 6.40pm: British economy rebounds 15.5pc
Britain’s economy rebounded by 15.5 per cent in the third quarter, emerging from a historic recession as initial coronavirus lockdown measures were relaxed, official data showed on Thursday.
“UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by a record 15.5 per cent in July to September... as lockdown measures were eased,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
The economy, however, was still 9.7 per cent smaller than before this year’s coronavirus-induced recession after a massive contraction in the second quarter.
Output in services, the production and construction sectors increased by record amounts in the third quarter, but the ONS cautioned that they were still below their pre-pandemic levels seen late last year.
The nation entered a painful recession after shrinking by a record 19.8 per cent in the second quarter after 2.5 per cent in the first, the ONS confirmed.
The technical definition of a recession is two quarterly contractions in a row. The GDP numbers do not yet reflect the impact of England’s second round of stay-at-home lockdown restrictions that were imposed last week to curb soaring infection and death rates.
The data was published one day after Britain passed the grim milestone of 50,000 people who have died from the pandemic. It has so far suffered the highest death toll in Europe.
READ MORE: Trump digs in with more lawsuits
The Economist 6.10pm: Scramble for plum jobs in Bidenworld
Either for fear of jinxing it or of appearing presumptuous, American presidential candidates avoid publicly naming their shadow cabinets ahead of elections.
Instead, ambitious politicos must discreetly jostle one another in the long queues for the best upcoming posts. Now that Joe Biden has narrowly won the presidential election, though, these scrums will spill out in public as they always do. The cabinet nods will have extra significance this time, though. Biden is less a movement leader (besides being anti-Trumpist) than he is a transitional one — an elder statesman who will mark the Democratic Party most by anointing the next generation of standard-bearers.
There are many contenders, of various species. There are the hangers-on accumulated over Biden’s half-century in national politics starting with his election as a senator in Delaware in 1972. Many denizens of Obamaland and Clintonland (both Bill and Hillary) are waiting to come in from the cold. Then there are the vanquished primary candidates turned surrogates — such as Kamala Harris, whose position as vice-president was fixed in advance.
Biden’s unusually broad coalition of establishment Democrats, socialists and excommunicated Republicans assembled during the presidential campaign also adds to the mouths to feed the spoils to. Many will have to go hungry.
Biden’s own tribe — the establishment Democrats — are likely to do best. Ronald Klain, who worked in the previous two Democratic administrations and ran Barack Obama’s management of Ebola, was named as chief of staff on Thursday AEDT. The 59-year-old served as chief of staff for Biden when he was vice-president.
The favourite to be secretary of defence is Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defence under Obama, an ex-think-tanker and a current business consultant.
Geoff Chambers 5.40pm: ‘Stop interfering’: China’s message to Australia
China has warned Australia to “stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs”, slamming Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne’s criticism as deplorable.
A statement released by the Chinese embassy in Canberra said “no other country has the right to make irresponsible remarks or intervene in the matter”, after Senator Payne accused Beijing of undermining Hong Kong’s democracy and autonomy with new powers allowing the disqualification of MPs who are not deemed sufficiently loyal to Beijing.
“We strongly deplore Australian Foreign Minister’s statement on Hong Kong. We urge the Australian side to abide by international law and basic norms of international relations, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese embassy statement said.
Senator Payne had earlier said the world was watching developments in Hong Kong, and urged “a consistent focus on human rights and the principles of freedom, transparency, autonomy and the rule of law”.
In response, the Chinese embassy said: “The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted this decision on the qualification of members of the Legislative Council (LegCo) of the HKSAR in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution, the Basic Law and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the HKSAR.”
“It is a necessary step to uphold and improve the ‘one country, two systems’, implement the Basic Law and the Hong Kong national security law, and maintain the rule of law and constitutional order in the HKSAR. Those who break the law must be held accountable, which is the basic principle of any law-based society. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, and the qualification of HKSAR LegCo members is purely an internal affair of China.”
READ MORE: China’s MP loyalty rule ‘undermines democracy’
Rachel Baxendale 5.00pm: DHHS secretary Peake quits
A third key leader of the Andrews government’s pandemic response has resigned, with Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kym Peake stepping down on Thursday.
Ms Peake’s resignation follows that of former health minister Jenny Mikakos and former secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Chris Eccles.
It comes as retired judge Jennifer Coate prepares to hand down the findings of her investigation into the Andrews government’s hotel quarantine program on December 21, after breaches by private security guards led to Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus, which killed 800 people and prompted a three-and-a-half month lockdown.
In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Premier Daniel Andrews announced obstetrician, gynaecologist and current CEO of Safer Care Victoria Euan Wallace had been appointed as Ms Peake’s replacement, effective from next Tuesday November 17.
“Prof Wallace brings significant experience across public administration, healthcare governance and clinical improvement,” Mr Andrews said.
“Most recently Prof Wallace has been serving as Deputy Secretary at DHHS, jointly responsible for case management, contact tracing and outbreak management.
“He has performed these duties on secondment from his role as CEO of Safer Care Victoria.
“He is an academic obstetrician and gynaecologist by training.
“He has more than a decade of experience in healthcare governance and clinical improvement and is also a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University.”
“Prof Wallace is a widely respected leader in the health sector and is well placed to lead the department through its next phase of pandemic response and recovery.”
Mr Andrews said Ms Peake, who has served as secretary for five years, had “decided to step down from the position to pursue other opportunities.”
“Ms Peake has led significant reform that has touched the lives of many Victorians including the relief and recovery from recent bushfires, the establishment of the Mental Health Royal Commission, and the delivery of many of the recommendations from the Family Violence Royal Commission,” Mr Andrews said.
“We thank Ms Peake for her dedicated service to Victoria and for her tireless commitment throughout the pandemic and her time with DHHS. We wish her well for the future.”
READ MORE: Woman stopped from seeing dying mum
Yoni Bashan 4.35pm: Raided MP has ALP membership restored
Shaoquett Moselmane, the suspended Labor politician whose home and office were raided by federal agents earlier this year, has had his party membership restored following a meeting with NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay.
Mr Moselmane was suspended by the Australian Labor Party in July following a series of dramatic raids carried out by Australian Federal Police officers investigating foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Upper House MLC stood himself aside from parliament but returned in October to sit on the crossbench while his membership remained suspended. On Wednesday he read out a transcript of his police interview with a federal agent to the parliament in which it was explicitly stated he was not a suspect.
“As I have reiterated to you a number of times, you are not considered a suspect in relation to this investigation,” Mr Moselmane said, reading out remarks made by the AFP officer conducting the interview.
READ the full story
Greg Brown 4.30pm: Fitzgibbon: I’m not looking for another job
Joel Fitzgibbon has denied he has used this term of parliament to secure a post-politics role in the resources sector, as Labor MPs reach boiling point on the interventions of the Hunter MP.
Mr Fitzgibbon said he will contest the next election for the seat of Hunter, after Labor MPs declared he would leave parliament this term and take a job in the private sector.
Several Labor MPs have told The Australian they do not believe Mr Fitzgibbon has been trying to help the party with his public statements on resources but was trying to curry favour with industry.
They believe he is going down a similar path as former resources minister Martin Ferguson, who was hired by the Minerals Council of Australia when he left parliament.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the claims were wrong.
“When they run out of arguments they go personal. It says much about my internal opponents,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“I have never been offered a job in the resources sector and have never looked for one. While there was a time during the dismal period post-election when I seriously contemplated retirement, I now realise my electorate and the party need me more than ever before.
“I’m going nowhere and will continue to do all I can to rebuild our party.”
Greg Brown 4.15pm: Butler defends climate policy
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler says: “Australians are ambitious for strong climate action” as he pushes back against calls from Joel Fitzgibbon to stand down from the portfolio.
“Australians want to embrace the opportunity of Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, lower power prices, create new industries like hydrogen and batteries, and reinvigorate our traditional industries like steel and aluminium,” Mr Butler said.
“Anthony Albanese is committed to climate action and the jobs it will create, and so am I as Labor’s Shadow Climate Change and Energy Minister.”
READ MORE: Biden climate policy could spell trouble for PM
Geoff Chambers 3.53pm: Reshuffle to test Albanese’s leadership
Anthony Albanese faces a test of leadership over his blind loyalty to Left-faction ally Mark Butler.
Butler has clung on to the climate change and energy portfolio for seven years despite two election losses and the rejection of Labor’s ambitious policies to drive down emissions and turbocharge renewables.
Joel Fitzgibbon, who has clashed privately and publicly with Butler, on Thursday stated the opinions of colleagues who desperately want Albanese to inject new blood into the climate change portfolio.
They want a reset on Labor’s approach to climate and energy. The COVID-19 fallout has shifted public priorities to the economy and health. Creating jobs, protecting businesses and delivering the best health services are front of mind for Australian voters.
READ Geoff Chambers’ full analysis here
Matthew Denholm 3.38pm: Tasmania to spend itself out of slump with $5bn splurge
Tasmania’s Liberal government will try to spend itself out of its COVID-19 economic slump, via a record $5 billion infrastructure splurge, plunging the island state deep into debt.
Delivering his seventh budget and first since taking the premiership on the eve of the coronavirus crisis, Peter Gutwein has thrown the taxpayer credit card to government departments to kickstart a moribund economy.
While expressing “quiet confidence and cautious optimism”, the Premier and Treasurer will allow his state – which was net debt-free in 2019-20 – to plunge $4.4 billion into the red by June 2024.
“This debt will be manageable, with interest rates remaining at record lows – and it will be the lowest level of net debt carried by any jurisdiction in the country,” Mr Gutwein said.
The extraordinary infrastructure spend will focus largely on roads and bridges – $2.4 billion – as well as hospital upgrades, public housing, schools and tourism sites.
READ the full story here
Staff writers 3.11pm: Biden ‘barred from seeing world leaders’ messages’
The US State Department is reportedly preventing Joe Biden from gaining access to congratulatory messages from global leaders, forcing the President-elect’s team to contact foreign governments themselves.
Many countries sent messages to Mr Biden via the State Department after his election win at the weekend. But with Donald Trump still refusing to concede the race, the State Department has declined to pass them on.
As a result, a stack of messages from foreign leaders are still sitting at State, CNN reports.
Mr Biden on Thursday spoke by phone with Scott Morrison, after he held calls with Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Ireland.
READ the full story here
Yoni Bashan 3.02pm: Woman denied pass to visit dying mother in NSW
A Melbourne woman was denied a permit to see her dying mother in a nursing home because of bureaucratic bungling and excessive red tape imposed by the NSW government, which refused her application despite the need for urgent compassionate grounds.
Loretta Mannix-Fell was told to rush from her home in Victoria to be with her 96-year-old mother at her nursing home in Tocumwal, on the NSW border, after health officials said she had 48 hours to live.
The Berejiklian government has been strident in its criticism of border closures applied in other states, namely Queensland, where the government has maintained a hard border with NSW for months, preventing residents from visiting sick relatives.
Ms Mannix-Fell told The Australian she scrambled to gather the paperwork required for the NSW government’s application process, however there was no response, forcing her to ring numerous times and emphasise the matter’s urgency.
READ the full story here
Jade Gailberger 2.53pm: China slaps ban on another Aussie product
China has suspended all timber exported from Victoria.
The move is another blow for the logging industry after it was revealed last week Queensland timber imports were also brought to a halt due to pests.
Australian producers have been staring down threats that several goods including seafood, red wine and copper would no longer be cleared by customs as part of a wide-ranging trade ban from Beijing.
The threats proved empty with goods still flowing but Victorian timber has become the latest product to fall short of Chinese customs measures.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said his department was notified of the suspension from the General Administration of Customs in China.
“All exports of logs from the state of Victoria are suspended as of 11 November,” Mr Littleproud said.
“I understand this follows the detection of live bark beetle (Ips grandicollis) in a number of consignments of logs exported from Victoria this year.
“There is concern around the effectiveness of fumigation treatments on shipments of bushfire-affected logs for export.”
At least two bulk carriers scheduled to load logs from Portland, Victoria, to China in the coming week have been affected, as well as consignments of containerised logs being prepared for export.
The department was notified about the pest issue in June. — NCA Newswire
READ MORE: Karl Rove — Why this election result won’t be overturned
Rachel Baxendale 2.26pm: Victoria gets $870m mental health boost
The Andrews government has announced a package of almost $870m in new mental health funding, to be included in the 2020-21 state budget being handed down on November 24.
The $868.6m will enable the government to deliver on its promise to implement all interim recommendations from its royal commission into mental health, including $492 million to deliver 120 mental health beds in Geelong, Epping, Sunshine and Melbourne, adding to 24 “Hospital in the Home” beds announced earlier this year.
Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on an “already broken” mental health system, saying the package included COVID-related funding.
READ the full story here
Angelica Snowden 2.08pm: Palaszczuk: I’m not going to respond to Berejiklian
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has dodged questions about when she will welcome Sydneysiders back into her state and defended her position on borders as one that has stood the state in “Such good stead”.
Today’s three new cases were acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 11, 2020
Ms Palaszczuk said she would not respond to further criticism from NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian over border closures.
“I am not going to respond to her in relation to that,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We have a national cabinet meeting on Friday and we will be obviously speaking about a whole range of issues and all of the premiers and first ministers work in a cooperative manner,” she said.
She said she did not believe Scott Morrison would pressure her to relax border restrictions.
“We had a briefing from Dr Young just the other day and she is very encouraged by the results that are happening in Victoria and the results seem to be improving in NSW as well,” she said.
There were three cases of COVID-19 reported in Queensland overnight, all of which were returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
READ MORE: Queensland recounts ordered in Labor seats
Greg Brown 1.58pm: Fitzgibbon a ‘self-indulgent, random backbencher’
Labor MP Josh Burns has lashed out at Joel Fitzgibbon, calling the Hunter MP “self-indulgent” and a “random backbencher”.
The Victorian Right MP rejected Mr Fitzgibbon’s call for Left faction heavyweight Mark Butler to be removed from the climate change portfolio.
“Mark Butler is an incredibly talented and hardworking member of our team and I’m proud to campaign alongside him,” Mr Burns told the ABC.
“He’s an authoritative voice on this policy area for a long time.”
Mr Burns said Mr Fitzgibbon’s public commentary about the Labor Party was out of touch with the concerns of his constituents in the Melbourne electorate of Macnamara.
“I’m worried about their families, jobs and businesses and the self-indulgent games being played by some need to stop. It’s not up to backbenchers to call for frontbenchers to resign,” he said.
“It’s up to all of us to represent people in our electorate, to fight for the Labor Party, to unite people behind the Labor Party.”
READ MORE: Joel is right about middle Australia
Angelica Snowden 1.52pm: NSW can’t control outbreaks, Queensland Treasurer says
Debate over the NSW Queensland border has intensified after Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick proclaimed NSW could not control COVID-19 in comparison to Victoria.
NSW health minister Brad Hazzard labelled Mr Dick’s comments Gladys Berejiklian had “spent more time attacking and criticising Queensland than managing her own state” offensive and “not necessary”.
“I think the bottom line here is that we have actually had our state open for months, open, and our economy is leading the rest of Australia when it comes to opening up,” Mr Hazzard told 2GB.
Earlier Mr Dick told 4BC radio NSW could not control coronavirus outbreaks.
“We have now seen almost a record number of days without infection in Victoria – they have done an incredible job and are perhaps the only place in the world where a second wave has been crushed,”
“NSW can’t control it … they are still bumping along,” he said.
READ MORE: Inflation hitting the poor hardest
Richard Ferguson 1.29pm: Biden didn’t raise emissions target in call with PM
US President-elect Joe Biden did not raise a net zero carbon emissions target for 2050 in his first phone call with Scott Morrison.
Labor has tried to push the Prime Minister towards a defined timeline towards net zero emissions this week now the United States is set to re-enter the Paris Agreement under the incoming Biden Administration.
But Mr Morrison on Thursday said he was the one to raise climate action with Mr Biden in their call, focusing on the development of low carbon technologies.
“We did not discuss that but I raised with the president-elect the similarity between the president-elect’s comments and policies regarding emissions reduction technologies that we needed to achieve that,” he said.
“And we look forward to working on those issues. But the specific matter that you raise was not addressed.”
READ the full story here
Richard Ferguson 1.20pm: Guilty soldiers may be saved from global courts
Scott Morrison says he hopes a strong Australian response against war crimes will mitigate the need for Australians to be hauled before the International Criminal Court.
The Prime Minister is warning “disturbing news” will be revealed when the Brereton Inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian soldiers is released next week.
By setting up a special prosecutor in Australia, Mr Morrison said Australians would show the world how seriously it took war crimes by its own soldiers.
“We believe so, yes. That is the important advice we have taken on this. We need to deal with this as Australians, in our court and with our laws, through our own justice processes and we will and I think that will say a lot about Australia,” he said.
“Of course this report will be difficult news and all of our partners must be assured and those around the world who rightly hold the Australian defence force in high regard, I believe by the process we are outlining to you today shows why that is the case.
“That in Australia will deal with this toughly … but in accordance through the rule of law and by following the justice practices and principles. That makes Australia what it is.
READ MORE: China’s MP loyalty rule ‘undermines democracy’
Richard Ferguson 1.13pm: War crime guilty face having medals stripped
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has opened the door for stripping medals off any Australian servicemen found guilty of war crimes in Afghanistan.
The Australian revealed on Monday that the Defence leadership has warned it is prepared to strip bravery medals from special forces soldiers if it emerges through the Brereton war crimes inquiry “a person’s entitlement to an award may no longer exist”.
Senator Reynolds said on Thursday she was open to any recommendations from the Brereton Inquiry, including stripping medals.
“Following recommendations in the Inspector General’s report, the CDF is considering all of those options,” she said in Canberra.
“There are many options and recommendations for action. It would be my expectation that Defence would consider each and every one of those recommendations, which may well include what you just said (stripping medial).
But I will wait until the CDF (Chief of the Defence Forces Angus Campbell) has finished his deliberations. And there will be many other issues that emerge that the CDF will have to consider and possibly how and when he refers these matters to the special investigator.”
READ MORE: Defence ‘to strip offenders of medals’
Richard Ferguson 12.48pm: PM to appoint special war crimes prosecutor
Scott Morrison will set up a special prosecutor to deal with any Australian servicemen accused of war crimes in Afghanistan, with the findings of the Brereton Inquiry to be released next week.
The Prime Minister warned Australians on Thursday that difficult news is set to emerge from the inquiry into the alleged actions of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan over more than a decade.
“The Office of the Special Investigator will address the criminal matters made in the Inspector General’s report and investigate those allegations, gather evidence and, where appropriate, refer briefs to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration,” he said in Canberra.
“There is a significant number of incidents or issues to be investigated further and that
investigation will be inherently complex. The investigation will require co-operation with international agencies and the evaluation of large amounts of material.
“The office will be established within the Department of Home Affairs and staffed with experienced investigators, legal counsel and other support personnel.
“It will include investigators from the Australian Federal Police and state and territory police forces with the rec it is experience and skills. It will leverage the Australian Federal Police investigative capability and powers.”
Former inspector-general of intelligence Vivienne Thom will oversee the Defence Forces’ implementation of recommendations from the Brereton Inquiry into Afghanistan war crimes.
Ms Thom and University of Tasmania vice-chancellor Rufus Black will lead an oversight panel to ensure defence culture changes once the Brereton Inquiry is released.
Scott Morrison has warned Australians that “disturbing content” will be revealed about SAS actions in Afghanistan over the past decade.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said in Canberra that the independent panel will ensure necessary culture changes are made.
“Nothing will be out of bounds for this inquiry,” Senator Reynolds said.
“That is exactly the purpose, so that we have accountability and transparency that sits out of the ADF chain of command and outside of government.”
Richard Ferguson 12.40pm: PM to take first overseas trip since pandemic began
Scott Morrison will undertake his first overseas trips since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March next week, with the Prime Minister headed to Japan and Papua New Guinea.
Mr Morrison will head to Tokyo and will be the first world leader to meet Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga on Japanese soil since he replaced Shinzo Abe two months ago.
Afterwards, he will meet with PNG Prime Minister James Marape in Port Moresby.
Mr Morrison will self-isolate when he returns for 14 days and will take part in the second-last week of parliament via videolink.
“Our relationship with Japan over the past few years has really gone from strength to strength,” he said in Canberra.
“They are an important partner on so many issues within our region. We are special strategic partners, we work closely together on trade, security, defence.”
Remy Varga 12.16pm: Victoria records rise in suicides among women
The number of Victorian women aged between 25 and 44 to die from suicide in 2020 already surpasses the total for the previous year by 16 deaths.
But the total number of deaths from self harm in Victoria have fallen by 20 as of October 31, with 580 deaths compared to 600 for the same period last year.
The number of women aged between 25 and 34 to die from self harm by the end of October is 37, compared to 27 deaths in the same cohort for the entirety of 2019.
As well, the number of women to die from suicide aged between 35 and 44 as of October 31 is 35, compared to 29 deaths for the entirety of 2019.
The report said there may be an emerging “elevated frequency” among women in that cohort but warned it was too early to identify any long-term trends.
“However, at this stage it is not possible to discount the effects of random fluctuation,” the report said.
“The deaths are currently under coronial investigation to identify any potential underlying issues.”
Men still make up about three in four suicide deaths, the report said.
Lifeline 131114
READ MORE: Covid divorce spike on the way
Charlie Peel 12.11pm: Queensland LNP elects new party leader
David Crisafulli has been elected unopposed as the leader of the Liberal National Party.
The Broadwater MP seemingly had the endorsement of outgoing leader Deb Frecklington, who he walked alongside into the party room meeting on Thursday morning.
Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki was elected deputy leader after a four-way contest with Burdekin MP Dale Last, Chatsworth MP Steve Minnikin and Moggil MP Christian Rowan.
The leadership vote came after Ms Frecklington, in an about face from her statement on election night, announced she would not seek re-election.
Her deputy, Tim Mander, also declined to run for a leadership position.
A former minister in the Newman government, Mr Crisafulli was first elected as the member for the Townsville seat of Mundingburra in 2012. He lost the seat in 2015 but reappeared in 2017 on the Gold Coast, defeating incumbent Broadwater MP Verity Barton in a preselection battle.
While the LNP party room was voting for its new leaders at Parliament House, Annastacia Palaszczuk’s new cabinet was being sworn in at a ceremony at Government House.
READ MORE: Added roles for cabinet shake-up
Angelica Snowden 11.38am: Highlands, NW Sydney alerts amid zero NSW cases
NSW has gone five days without a case of locally acquired COVID-19, with five cases reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
There were 23,236 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with 20,586 in the previous 24 hours.
Fragments of COVID-19 was also detected at sewage pumping stations serving nearly 25,000 people in Bowral and Moss Vale in the state’s Southern Highlands.
No cases of locally acquired COVID-19 were diagnosed in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 12, 2020
Five cases were reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,294 since the start of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/Vslfe59ZJr
Recent cases of COVID-19 were found in Moss Vale, but there has not been a case reported recently in Bowral NSW Health said in a statement.
“While detection of the virus in sewage samples could reflect the presence of older cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in these areas, NSW Health is concerned there could be other active cases in the local community in people who have not been tested and who might incorrectly assume their symptoms are simply a cold,” NSW Health said in a statement.
READ MORE: China influx ‘stifles uni debate’
Richard Ferguson 11.31am: PM speaks to Biden: ‘I look forward to working with him’
Scott Morrison has spoken to US President-elect Joe Biden for the first time since the Democrat’s election victory.
The Prime Minister said on Thursday he and Mr Biden looked forward to celebrating the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS security treaty next year and would work together to solve global challenges.
I’ve just spoken to President-elect @JoeBiden to congratulate him on his election. There are no greater friends and no greater allies than Australia and the US. pic.twitter.com/eZm7I4p7Ih
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 12, 2020
“I’ve just spoken to President-elect @JoeBiden to congratulate him on his election. There are no greater friends and no greater allies than Australia and the US,” Mr Morrison tweeted.
“I look forward to strengthening even further our deep and enduring alliance, and to working with him closely as we face the world’s many challenges together.
“We look forward to celebrating the 70th anniversary of ANZUS next year.”
Mr Biden’s call with Mr Morrison comes after he held discussions this week with the leaders of Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Ireland.
READ MORE: Georgia to recount all ballots by hand
Robert Gottliebsen 11.26am: Questions over cover-ups at Victoria’s DHHS
When government departments and public servants engage in a massive cover up like the Victorian hotel quarantine disaster it is not normally their first cover up exercise.
So, before we get to the bottom of how 600 people this year lost their lives we can expect a number of minor prelude bungles that also need to be covered up. Those cover ups become vital in uncovering the truth behind the major event.
And so it was no surprise to discover that the massive cover up of the Victorian quarantine deaths had a prelude.
READ Robert Gottliebsen’s full commentary here
Angelica Snowden 10.56am: Spectators likely welcome at 2021 Tokyo Olympics
Spectators are likely to be welcomed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee president says.
Following a virtual meeting today, the IOC Executive Board (EB) acknowledged the continued progress being made towards all forthcoming Olympic Games, as local Organising Committees continue to develop Games fit for a post-corona world. #IOCEB https://t.co/h55MCneDxJ
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) November 11, 2020
Despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis — which is gripping many parts of Europe and the US for a second time this year — Thomas Bach said recent sports events held in Japan demonstrated fans could safely attend, USA Today reported.
“Having seen now the different tests in Japan, I think we can become more and more confident that we will have a reasonable number of spectators then also in the Olympic venues,” Mr Bach said.
“How many and under which conditions, again, depends very much on the future developments,” he said.
The IOC held a board meeting on Wednesday to discuss organising Olympic Games “fit for a post corona world”.
Mr Bach also said a “toolbox” of COVID-19 countermeasures would be used to ensure safety of athletes.
READ MORE: NRL riding out Covid rollercoaster
Rachel Baxendale 10.50am: Timing’s off but health department ‘world class’
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has declared the Department of Health and Human Services’ communications team to be “world class”, despite their failure to provide coronavirus updates at the same time each day eight months into the pandemic.
Since September, DHHS have tweeted the daily case numbers each morning, but the time this occurs can be as early as before 8am, or as late as 10.30am.
A more comprehensive Chief Health Officer’s press release is issued each afternoon, but this can occur any time between 1.30pm and 5pm.
In contrast, the NSW health department issues a daily coronavirus press release at 11am every day.
Holding a doorstop press conference on his way into state parliament shortly before 9:30am on Thursday, Mr Foley said there was no reason he was aware of that the numbers had not yet been tweeted.
“I’m sure it won’t be far away,” he said.
Asked whether it was because the DHHS comms team were “not very good at what they do”, Mr Foley said: “No, no, no. Our communications team is first class. I have nothing but confidence in them.”
Mr Foley was asked why it had taken hours on Wednesday for DHHS to update their website with details on the case of a woman who had tested positive for coronavirus in South Australia, after travelling from Victoria having previously had the virus in early August, Mr Foley said he had announced the details hours before they went online “Because it was important that as soon as the government was aware of the potential, admittedly a low risk, but a potential risk, that we shared that with the Victorian community.”
Asked why DHHS could not have published the information within minutes of his announcing it, Mr Foley said: “The DHHS communication unit is first class, and it’s world class, and it has its systems in place so as to make sure that the information it provides to the Victorian community is tested, accurate and timely, and it was.”
READ MORE: Pennsylvania county’s lesson for Biden
Jade Gailberger 10.43am: International travel on National Cabinet agenda
A plan to kickstart international travel will be discussed by state and territory leaders at National Cabinet on Friday.
The agenda for the high-level meeting is expected to include the reopening of borders, a vaccine rollout plan and the response to the bushfire royal commission.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was on Thursday asked how many people needed to be vaccinated for international travel to resume.
“That (vaccine) implementation plan is now being worked through and will be discussed with the premiers tomorrow,” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News.
“We’ve seen positive reports of the Pfizer vaccine … but the outlook is positive and it’s giving people hope, as it should.”
Australia is in talks with countries including Japan, Korea and Pacific Island nations about overseas travel.
Scott Morrison said the government was also considering ways to open Australia to Taiwan, Singapore and parts of China.
“(We) are looking at what alternative arrangements could be had to channel visitors through appropriate quarantine arrangements for low-risk countries,” the Prime Minister said this week.
However, he said the government would “proceed cautiously” given the rising coronavirus case numbers in Europe and the United States.
Leaders will on Friday discuss the goal to reopen the nation’s internal borders by Christmas. — NCA Newswire
READ MORE: Wage subsidy gets over the line
David Rogers 10.30am: ASX on track for seventh straight rise
Australia’s sharemarket hit a fresh 8-month high after offshore gains, on track for its seventh straight rise.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3pc to 6470, led by positive corporate announcements and a shift back to growth stocks.
Telstra surged 6.2pc on its restructure plan and Wesfarmers jumped 2.6pc on strong online retail sales growth.
Xero and Graincorp jumped more than 6pc after reporting and Nine Entertainment surged 9pc on strong earnings guidance.
Tech has surged amid solid gains in Xero, Afterpay and NEXTDC up 3.5pc, and Wesfarmers is boosting the Consumer Discretionary sector.
Consumer Staples, Communications and Health Care are also outperforming.
But value stocks are mostly down as they were in the US after a great run since the US election and the vaccine news this week.
Santos is down 2.3pc, NAB is down 1.8pc ex-dividend, Fortescue is off 1.9pc, Transurban is down 0.6pc despite an upgrade and Qantas is down 1pc.
FOLLOW live ASX updates at Trading Day
Angelica Snowden 10.11am: Queensland safe to open borders: epidemiologist
Epidemiologist Peter Collignon says it is safe for Queensland to open borders for Sydney residents and 28 days without locally acquired infections requirement was not a “good idea”.
Professor Collignon said the 28-day-rule was an elimination strategy, not a suppression strategy.
“As soon as you go for elimination you will have much harsher restrictions … you will have to have opening and closing of borders and is it achievable over the medium to long term? New Zealand tried it but had an outbreak,” he said.
“I think it is … more realistic to get suppression to low levels.
“We have to be careful about not having too harsh restrictions because even if a vaccine comes, when it comes, it will not really get to all of us until the end of next year so there will be a lot more pain, probably needlessly, if we overdo restrictions.”
Professor Collignon said while it was safe for Queensland to open borders for Sydney residents, they could wait a little longer to open to Victorians until they have sustained low levels of community transmission.
READ MORE: Aged-care worker tests positive again
Richard Ferguson 9.46am: Marles ‘only has eyes for Labor deputy role’
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles has denied he has any ambitions to take the Labor leadership off Anthony Albanese, and has backed Mark Butler to keep the climate portfolio.
Rogue Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon’s shadow cabinet resignation has sparked a new round of Labor leadership speculation, but Mr Marles said on Thursday he only wanted to be deputy in an Albanese government.
“He has led us through the most difficult period I can remember,” Mr Marles told Sky News.
“This is just people writing column inches to be frank. There is no issue here.
My ambition is to be deputy prime minister of this country. I want to see Anthony Albanese to be the prime minister of this country.”
After Mr Fitzgibbon called on Mr Butler to be moved from climate change, Mr Marles said the South Australian Labor MP should stay in the post and argued his policies were popular, despite two Labor election losses.
“Mark has done a fantastic job as the shadow responsible for climate change and energy. It’s obviously a very difficult area,” he told Sky News.
“Mark’s been across this portfolio since the day he took it on … they have, they absolutely have (been effective at elections)”
READ MORE: GetUp won’t rule out hounding Liberal MPs
Angelica Snowden 9.45am: We’re not out of the woods yet, Frydenberg warns
Australia is not “out of the woods yet” despite consumer confidence increasing and a predicted resurgence in the housing market, Josh Frydenberg says.
The #JobMaker Hiring Credit has passed the Parliament, helping young people aged 16-35 get back into work.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) November 11, 2020
This is part of the Morrison Government’s plan to create jobs, rebuild the economy & secure Australia’s future. pic.twitter.com/shEX25XV0x
The Treasurer said news that Westpac’s consumer sentiment survey revealed confidence levels had reached a seven-year high was positive but the road ahead will be “long, hard and probably bumpy”.
“Some of these surveys were taken well before the recent announcement from Pfizer,” Mr Frydenber told the Nine network.
“Certainly that is going to create a boost across community sentiment as it should do. Those trials look very positive,” he said.
“There is some positive news but we are not out of the woods yet. This is a very big hit to the Australian economy that the pandemic has caused.”
Older Australians have not been left behind by the government’s JobMaker package and protections would be put in place to prevent companies from firing them, Mr Frydenberg said.
“This is a program that is focused on younger workers,” he said.
“We have other programs like Restart which is focused on older workers who have been unemployed.”
READ MORE: Households fear for their financial future
Rachel Baxendale 9.28am: Victoria records thirteenth straight day of zero cases
Victoria has recorded its 13th straight day with no new coronavirus
cases and no deaths.
Yesterday there were 0 new cases and 0 lives lost. There were 20,819 tests received – thank you, Victoria #EveryTestHelps. There are 3 active cases, 1 with unknown source. #StaySafeStayOpen https://t.co/pcll7ySEgz #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/Mnr3DhYGAW
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) November 11, 2020
Victoria now has just three active cases of coronavirus – down from four on Wednesday.
Two of the three remain in Victorian hospitals with the virus, neither of whom are in intensive care.
There have now been 3,363,715 tests processed in Victoria since the pandemic began, including 20,819 in the 24 hours to Thursday.
Health Minister Martin Foley said a positive swab made public on Wednesday from a woman in South Australia who had previously tested positive for coronavirus while working in aged care in Victoria in early August was still “thought to be continued shedding” of the virus from the August infection by South Australian health authorities.
However, the woman and her close contacts remain in isolation with authorities in both states taking a “precautionary” approach and anyone who visited Melbourne Central on November 8 between 2pm and 5pm or were at Terminal 4 of Melbourne Airport on 9 November between noon and 1pm to be alert to even the mildest of symptoms and seek immediate testing if they become unwell.
The 14-day daily average of new cases is now 0.1 in Victoria, with the source of infection unknown for one of the state’s three active cases.
Asked whether the two people who remain in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus and have been there for at least 13 days are elderly, Mr Foley said he would not speak about particular cases, but was “confident from the advice I have that they’re on the road to recovery”.
READ MORE: Bounce puts home sales through roof
Angelica Snowden 9.24am: NSW ‘absolutely’ has Covid under control
Health authorities in NSW “absolutely” have COVID-19 under control, despite authorities calling on more than 18,000 residents to get tested in Sydney’s northwest following sewage testing, customer service minister Victor Dominello says.
@NSWHealth is urging more than 18,500 western Sydney residents to get tested for COVID-19 following discovery of virus fragments, under our wastewater monitoring program. Our teams are working every day to provide the latest results supporting NSW Government’s COVID-19 response. https://t.co/S4w8CWchvr
— Sydney Water (@SydneyWaterNews) November 11, 2020
“We have had control of this from the early stages,” he told the Nine network.
“Obviously, there were lessons learnt. Since then we have been the only state that has kept the economy open and the numbers very low,” he said.
Mr Dominello said it was frustrating to see venues flouting COVID restrictions across Sydney after vision emerged of patrons ignoring social distancing rules at a venue in Leichhardt.
“It is very frustrating because so many businesses are working hard to do the right thing,” he said.
“Then you see something like this that lets the team down … we can’t afford to do this.”
Mr Dominello echoed NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian’s calls for Queendland to open up their borders, but said the state government said he did not know when that would be.
READ MORE: Confidence high in shift to recovery
Richard Ferguson 9.02am: Fitzgibbon calls for Butler to be dumped
Rogue Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has called on Anthony Albanese to take the climate change portfolio away from opposition frontbencher Mark Butler.
Mr Fitzgibbon quit the shadow cabinet this week amid a year-long battle to shift Labor towards a smaller-target emissions reduction policy.
The former agriculture spokesman told Sky News that Labor needed a fresh face to reach out to voters sceptical of their climate action stance, and said Mr Butler could take on another role.
“I don’t show any level of disrespect for Mark but he has been in that portfolio for seven years, we’ve lost two elections, we’ve had two energy and climate change policies that have not been embraced by the Australian people,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“I do think Mark can go to another senior portfolio — he’s a smart guy, there are plenty of things he can do — but we need a new advocate bringing a fresh face and a fresh approach.
“Somebody who can reach out to both the community and industry and say: ‘Hey, the new person’s in town … I want to make sure anything we do to produce a meaningful climate policy and a meaningful energy policy does not do harm to you in your household.”
Angelica Snowden 8.58am: Fitzgibbon: It was Dreyfus who got excited
Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has broken the “golden rule” which prevents MPs from talking about shadow cabinet and says reports his meeting with Anthony Albanese was volatile and “red hot” are “pretty accurate”.
Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon on the call to adopt more ambitious climate change targets - following the election of Joe Biden: "The pathway to action on climate change is the election of a Labor government BUT overreach on policy is a recipe for another election loss" #7NEWS #auspol pic.twitter.com/Wd8XwZvjkF
— Jennifer Bechwati (@jenbechwati) November 9, 2020
“I must stress I don’t think it was ever going to get woolly between me and Albo, it was Mark Dreyfus who got excited on my right flank there,” Mr Fitzgibbon told 2GB
“I was looking at him out of the corner of my right eye because he was getting a little bit agitated and shouting fairly loudly,” he said.
After he sensationally quit shadow cabinet on Monday night over Labor’s climate change policies, Mr Fitzgibbon trashed claims he was forced to leave the party as “completely untrue” and said he was “under no pressure to resign”.
“I walked into Anthony Albanese’s office on Tuesday morning and told him it was my intention to resign that day and in fact he said he would like to talk me out of it,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the federal party should learn from Annastacia Palaszczuk’s win in Queensland and “follow her model”.
“She demonstrated you can be committed to the environment … while at the same time have a commitment to our traditional base,” he said.
He also said he was “ready and willing to do whatever I can to make the Labor Party electable” when asked if he would take a tilt at the leadership.
READ MORE: Unions roast Labor: You are out of step
Cameron Stewart 8.40am: Biden to tell Morrison: ‘America is back’
Incoming US president Joe Biden will tell Scott Morrison that “America is back” and ready to strengthen its alliance with Australia.
The president-elect will speak with the Prime Minister in the next day or so and will send the firm message that he will replace Donald Trump’s America First approach with a renewed focus on allies like Australia.
Mr Biden, who has said previously that Australia and the US have “an unsurpassed relationship”, is expected to seek an even closer bond with Canberra in the face of a rising China.
The 77-year-old former vice-president has said he wants America’s allies to share the burden of global changes so that it is not “America alone”.
Mr Biden in recent days has been calling world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
READ the full story here
Erin Lyons 8.36am: Covid alert for 18,500 Sydneysiders
Almost 20,000 residents living in Sydney’s northwest have been urged to get tested after fragments of COVID-19 were found in sewage across two locations.
Health authorities sent out an alert on Wednesday night explaining virus fragments had been detected at two sewage pumping stations in Western Sydney, which serve several suburbs,
“The area served by one of the pumping stations includes a population of around 5,860 residents of North Kellyville and Rouse Hill,” NSW Health said in the statement.
“The second pumping station serves a population of around 12,650 people across the suburbs of Rouse Hill, Box Hill, The Ponds, Kellyville Ridge, Parklea, Quakers Hill and Acacia Gardens.”
The fragments were detected through the state’s ongoing sewage surveillance program.
While findings could reflect older cases of the virus, NSW Health said it is “concerned” there could be other active cases out there in the community and residents could “incorrectly assume” their symptoms indicate a common cold.
A new pop-up clinic has been established in The Fiddler car park, on the corner of Windsor and Commercial Roads in Rouse Hill, in preparation for a testing blitz.
READ MORE: Detected cases far below the reality
Angelica Snowden 8.07am: Labor imposes ‘bonk ban’ on all MPs
Labor will impose a ‘bonk ban’ covering all MPs, going further than the Coalition’s policy which only applies to front benchers.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull outlawed sexual relationships between frontbench MPs and their staff in 2017 after then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce had an affair with his staffer Vikki Campion.
But Anthony Albanese confirmed Labor’s policy would go further and ban all MPs from sleeping with their staff, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“Labor believes that workplaces must be safe places, whether in MPs’ offices or any other workplace,” Mr Albanese said.
News of the ‘bonk ban’ came after acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge and Attorney-General Christian Porter became embroiled in scandal and it was revealed they had been accused of having affairs with their staffers.
Scott Morrison earlier this week urged Labor and the Greens to ban senior MPs from having sex with their staff.
READ MORE: The Sketch — Mark offers masterclass in ducking and diving
Madeleine Ngo 8.05am: GOP’s Dan Sullivan wins Alaska senate race
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan defeated independent Al Gross, according to a race call by the Associated Press, keeping the seat in Republican hands.
The result extends Republicans’ lead in their fight to keep control of the Senate, which now stands at 50-48.
Two run-off races in Georgia in January will determine which party controls the chamber. If Democrats win both seats and make it 50-50, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, could cast any tie-breaking votes.
Alaska has been slow to report its results because the state didn’t start counting absentee ballots until November 10, a week after Election Day.
Public polls showed that Mr. Sullivan was favoured to win, though Mr Gross mounted a competitive bid running as an independent who would caucus with Democrats if elected.
Mr. Gross faced an uphill battle in a conservative-leaning state that President Trump won by 15 points in 2016. Alaska, though, has a history of rejecting party politics. Mr. Sullivan ousted a Democratic incumbent when he was first elected in 2014 and the state’s senior senator, GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski, has been known to break from her party. Most registered voters in the state are unaffiliated with either party.
An orthopaedic surgeon and commercial fisherman, Mr Gross played up his Alaska roots and often noted that he once killed a grizzly bear in self-defence. He billed himself as a centrist who would think for himself and work to expand access to health care in advertisements.
Wall Street Journal
Read more: Senate controls hinges on five uncalled states
Angelica Snowden 7.55am: US records 200,000 infections overnight
A record 200,000 new COVID-19 infections were recorded in the US on Tuesday and more than 240,000 people have now died from the virus prompting tougher restrictions across the country.
In just 10 days since November 1, 1,038,534 new infections were recorded across the US, which has now seen more than 10 million cases and 240,521 dead. This is the highest number of deaths amid infections compared with any other country.
New York will set a 10pm curfew for most bars and restaurants and will limit gatherings at private residences to 10 people confirmed Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday.
The Democratic governor also gave health and fitness centres the same curfew. The new measures will take effect on Friday.
Mr Cuomo said that private gatherings, bars, restaurants and gyms were one of several sources responsible for the increase of infections, which killed 21 New Yorkers on Tuesday.
“If these measures are not sufficient to slow the spread … we will turn the valve more, and part of that would be reducing the number of people in indoor dining,” Mr Cuomo said.
“If that doesn’t work, if these numbers keep going crazy, you have some scientists who believe we’ll go back to a closedown. I’m praying that doesn’t happen.”
In the entire state, officials identified another 4,820 coronavirus infections which represented 2.93% of the tests processed on Tuesday, state officials said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a Twitter post on Wednesday that the share of New York City residents who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week reached 2.52%, according to the most recent data from Monday.
Today’s indicators:
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 11, 2020
• 94 patients admitted to the hospital
• 817 new cases
• The infection rate 7-day average is 2.52%
This is our LAST chance to stop a second wave.
We can do it, but we have to act NOW.
If the seven-day average positivity rate reaches 3%, the city could face further restrictions, including schools closing, officials have previously warned.
With Dow Jones
Read more: Trump has given up controlling coronavirus: Biden
AFP 7.40am: Trump’s first post-election appearance
US President Donald Trump made his first official post-election appearance today for what should have been a moment of national unity to mark Veterans Day, now marred by his refusal to acknowledge Joe Biden’s win.
On a rainy, grey day in Washington the president visited Arlington National Cemetery for a sombre wreath-laying ceremony shortly before 11.30am local time, four days after US media projected his Democratic rival would take the White House.
Since then he has not addressed the nation other than via Twitter and a statement released to mark Veterans Day, and has not conceded to Mr Biden, as is traditional once a winner is projected in a US vote.
With COVID-19 cases shattering records across the country and states imposing new restrictions in a push to contain the virus before winter arrives, Mr Trump seems to have all but shelved normal presidential duties save for his brief appearance at Arlington, where he made no public remarks.
Instead, he has remained shut up inside the presidential mansion, pushing an alternate reality that he is about to win and filing lawsuits alleging voter fraud that so far have been backed up by only the flimsiest evidence.
Early today he was tweeting fresh evidence-free claims of election wins and ballot tampering, despite the consensus from international observers, world leaders, local election officials and US media that the November 3 vote was free and fair, and that there have no credible allegations of fraud.
Claiming that a poll in Wisconsin on Election Day had resulted in “possibly illegal suppression” he said he was “now preparing to win the state,” which was called for Mr Biden one week ago.
“Many such ‘deplorable’ instances!” he added on Twitter.
Some Republicans were adding their voices to growing calls for the president to concede, with experts warning his refusal to do so was undermining the democratic process and holding up the transition to Mr Biden, who takes office in January.
Read more: Refusal to concede an ‘embarrassment: Biden
Angelica Snowden 7.15am: Italy records 1m cases, UK deaths top 50,000
The European Union was hopeful on Wednesday it could start vaccinating people against the COVID-19 next year as Italy recorded more than one million cases and Britain’s death toll surpassed the 50,000 mark.
The head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Andrea Ammon, told AFP that a vaccination program could be kicked off “optimistically (in the) first quarter next year, but I can’t be more precise.”
✅Better coordination & planning
— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) November 11, 2020
✅Better monitoring of infectious diseases
✅Revamped Agencies
✅A new 🇪🇺 BARDA for foresight & response to health threats
The first steps of a stronger #HealthUnion to tackle #COVID19 & for the future. pic.twitter.com/0UEfwGXsUH
It came after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it’s vaccine was 90 per cent effective and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was 92 per cent effective.
More than 50,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Britain have now died, official figures showed Wednesday, with another 595 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.
Britain’s death toll now stands at 50,365, the highest in Europe, with another 22,950 testing positive for the disease over the last day, according to government data.
“Every death is a tragedy … we’re not out of the woods yet,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
In Italy, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases passed the symbolic one million mark, while almost 43,000 people have died, official data showed.
And in Spain, the death toll surged over 40,000 with infections passing the 1.4 million mark as the rate of new cases continued to grow, health ministry data showed.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it intended to build a new agency to prepare for similar crises in the future.
While health policy is mainly the responsibility of the bloc’s 27 member states, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the coronavirus pandemic had shown the need for co-ordination.
Brussels plans to launch a new agency, the Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA), in 2023, Ms Kyriakides said.
On Tuesday, the EU parliament and member states struck a deal to pass the bloc’s multi-annual budget, unblocking 750 billion euros ($886 billion) in coronavirus recovery funds.
With AFP
READ MORE: Vaccine rollout for five million Aussies tipped for March
Jacquelin Magnay 5.50am: Russian COVID-19 vaccine ‘92 per cent effective’
New data suggests Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, is 92 per cent effective, raising hopes the development of more global vaccines will help stem the coronavirus pandemic.
The efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine is similar to the 90 per cent efficacy levels registered by the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, but it involved fewer positive coronavirus cases upon which to calculate the data.
#Breaking
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موÛÙ† गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) November 11, 2020
The first interim data analysis of the #SputnikV vaccine against covid 19 phase 3 clinical trials in the Russian federation demonstrated 92 percent efficacy--The Gamaleya National Research Center @rdif_press @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/WTyQIU0FQT
Australia has not committed to purchase any of the Sputnik V vaccine, but the results have given further heart to global researchers that multiple vaccines will be approved by early next year.
“As a result of a statistical analysis of 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicates that the Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92 per cent after the second dose,’’ Russia’s Gamaleya centre said.
Read the full story here.
Natasha Robinson 5.20am: March target to vaccinate five million Australians
The regulator of medicines in Australia has confirmed it expects to be able to approve the first coronavirus vaccine in late January, with jabs of five million people to begin in March.
That’s provided safety and efficacy data provided by pharmaceutical company Pfizer — which is manufacturing the frontrunner vaccine — meets rigorous regulatory standards.
Our CEO @AlbertBourla spoke with @danprimack of @AxiosReCap about our #COVID19 vaccine efficacy results this week, and what next steps there are in the development process. https://t.co/FBPpWQ11Gu
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) November 11, 2020
The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, John Skerritt, on Wednesday confirmed the news first reported by The Australian that Pfizer had been granted a provisional determination for its vaccine, which fast-tracks the approval process.
A vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca in conjunction with Oxford University has also been granted a provisional determination and is expected to be available in Australia in January, with vaccinations to begin in March if clinical trials prove successful and regulatory approval is granted.
Update on this story: the TGA has confirmed following our story in @australian this morning that it is fast-tracking approvals determinations for COVID-19 vaccines and expects Pfizer's vaccine if successful to have provisional approval in Australia in January. @kloussikian https://t.co/Nceklmfd1R
— Natasha Robinson (@NC_Robinson) November 11, 2020
Read the full story here.
Patrick Commins 5.10am: Proof Australian economy on COVID-19 rebound
Australia’s COVID-19 economic recovery is gaining momentum, with consumer confidence at a seven-year high, deferred loan repayments restarting and economists predicting a housing market resurgence.
As the nation recorded its fourth consecutive day without a COVID-19 community transmission, the sharemarket closed at an eight-month high as the federal government revealed a vaccine was likely to be available by March, paving the way for the gradual unwinding of social distancing restrictions.
The major banks believe the housing market remains strong. CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said yesterday the drop in house prices from peak to trough could be as little as 3 per cent, with the latest RBA rate cut adding momentum and increasing interest in the market.
Read the full story here.
Greg Brown 5am: Unions say Labor ‘out of step’ on climate policy
Divisions within Labor on climate change have deepened after two leading union officials and a former president of the ACTU condemned frontbencher Mark Dreyfus for describing Joel Fitzgibbon as being “out of step’’ with regional Australians on environmental policy.
CFMEU Queensland mining and energy president Stephen Smyth and CFMEU NSW northern mining and energy president Peter Jordan also warned that Anthony Albanese’s team had not done enough to win back blue-collar workers who deserted the party at the last election.
Mr Dreyfus lashed out at Mr Fitzgibbon’s push for a moderate climate change policy after the Hunter MP quit his frontbench position on Tuesday.
“Joel is out of step not only with the Labor Party, but he’s out of step with thinking across Australia: in the regions, the cities, the unions,” Mr Dreyfus told the ABC.
But Former ACTU president and Labor MP Jennie George said the only people “out of step” were Labor MPs who “fail to take note of the results of the last election”.
Read the full story here.
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