Coronavirus Australia live news: Andrews fires up over pressure to fine Casey cluster breachers
As it’s confirmed the number of households behind the ‘Casey cluster’ have grown to seven, Victoria’s Premier resists pressure to fine them.
- Casey cluster source grows to seven households
- Andrews fires up over failure to fine
- Andrews’ chief ‘in dark’ on hotel guards
- Victoria cases fall to new low
- Fewer infections raise fresh hope
- NSW records just 4 new cases
- PM’s plan to subsidise new jobs
Welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has fired up over growing pressure to fine those who blatantly breached Melbourne’s 5km-radius rule and sparked a cluster of 43 infection as Casey ‘family’ cluster grows to seven households. Victoria's top public servant says he didn’t know who made the call to use private security guards for hotel quarantine. Daniel Andrews leaves open the option of an accelerated road map out of lockdown with the number of new cases falling to just 11.
Geoff Chambers 10.30pm: Energy roadmap to slash emissions
Scott Morrison’s technology investment roadmap will back new energy-efficient power sources to slice 250 million tonnes of Australia’s emissions a year by 2040 and lay the groundwork for the federal government’s long-term emissions strategy.
The energy blueprint released on Tuesday outlines the nation’s lower-emissions technology priorities and how the government will support emerging energy markets through direct investment and changes to legislative and regulatory frameworks.
In a major pre-budget speech at the National Press Club, ¬Energy Minister Angus Taylor will set out clear timelines for new technologies to become more competitive than existing energy sources and support 130,000 jobs over the next decade.
The Morrison government’s five priority emissions technologies — scaled back from a list of more than 140 — are: clean hydro¬gen; energy storage; green steel and aluminium; Carbon Capture and Storage; and soil carbon projects.
“They are priorities where government investments can make a difference in reducing costs and improving technology readiness,” Mr Taylor will say.
Greg Sheridan 9.45pm: Global surge points to our own vulnerability
It’s the last thing anyone will want to hear. But based on contemporary international experience, Victoria could face a devastating third wave of COVID-19, as infection rates soar in Europe, the US passes the grim milestone of 200,000 dead from the virus, Israel enters a severe second lockdown with citizens restricted to within 500m of their homes and one in five Brits operating under some form of restrictions as Boris Johnson sees a second wave of infections and publicly considers a second, short lockdown.
Melbourne University Professor Jodie McVernon, head of epidemiology at the Doherty Institute, says “only a fool” would rule out a third wave in Victoria when the state finally does emerge from its current second wave.
Professor Raina MacIntyre of the University of NSW predicts that the normal pattern of recurring bouts of infections in such pandemics will play out. She describes the cycle as: mass infection followed by severe social distancing and isolation, testing and tracing which gets the infections back under control which then leads to community complacency which then triggers a renewed outbreak. This goes on until there is a vaccine.
Mackenzie Scott 9.15pm: Luxury seekers lead stampede north
A life of luxury is in demand in Brisbane, with top-end properties setting the benchmark for sales and rents.
Expats returning home, interstate movers looking for a change and Queens¬land’s effective health response to COVID-19 helped quicken sales and push up rental and buying prices in Brisbane last quarter, as Sydney and Melbourne struggled.
Real estate firm Knight Frank’s latest Prime Residential Review showed Brisbane was the only major east coast market to report a decrease in the time taken to sell a property in the second quarter, down four days to 112. Prices were up 0.3 per cent over the same period, a change of 2.5 per cent for the year to June.
The movement of people to the city also helped push up weekly rents of luxury rental homes as many look for the right property to buy, said Knight Frank’s head of residential research Australia Michelle Ciesielski.
Ewin Hannan 8.45pm: Time for Andrews to finally fess up
Daniel Andrews fronted the media at 10am on Monday, an hour earlier than usual, and right at the time his top bureaucrat started giving evidence to the hotel quarantine inquiry.
If this was a crass attempt at media management to minimise attention on the evidence of Chris Eccles, secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, it didn’t work as Eccles, more by accident than design, proved he could generate his own headlines.
After an hour of cross-examination, counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard, came to a question that goes to the heart of the inquiry: did he know how a decision was reached that private security would be the “frontier of enforcement” in the hotel quarantine program?
It is a question a conga line of witnesses have been unable to answer and Eccles was no different: “No, I’m not aware.”
Imogen Reid 8.15pm: Alert over Sydney sports club
NSW Health has issued a fresh alert to anyone who dined at a sports club in Sydney’s southwest last week after it was attended by a patron who has since tested positive for coronavirus.
Moorebank Sports Club at Hammondville closed on Monday afternoon for a deep clean.
Anyone who was at the club last Monday night — September 14 — has been advised to monitor for symptoms and get tested if they appear.
Health authorities are working with the club to identify and contact people who were at the venue at the same time as the infected person.
“Anyone identified as a close contact should immediately self-isolate, get tested and remain isolated for 14 days,” NSW Health said.
READ MORE: New central powers for emergency response
AFP 7.50pm: Lebanon PM’s plea to form cabinet
Lebanese prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib has urged competing political forces to step up and help him form a desperately needed independent government to save the crisis-hit country.
Mr Adib is under pressure to form a fresh cabinet line-up so the new government can launch a raft of reforms required to unlock billions of dollars in foreign aid.
Lebanon was mired in its worst economic crisis in decades and battling the novel coronavirus pandemic, even before one of the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosions at the Beirut port last month.
“Any further delay will exacerbate and deepen the crisis,” Mr Adib said in a statement on Monday.
His remarks came after a French-imposed deadline to form the cabinet passed last week.
Mr Adib appealed to all political forces to “work towards the success of the French initiative immediately and without delay” to help rescue the country.
“The Lebanese people’s woes... require the cooperation of all sides to facilitate forming a crisis government” of independents, he said.
Mr Adib’s efforts to form a government have been effectively blocked by the two main Shia groups in Lebanon’s usual power-sharing arrangement — Amal and Hezbollah.
Observers have said their insistence to keep the Finance Ministry is linked to recent US sanctions against a former minister from Amal, as well as Hezbollah-linked businesses.
The August 4 explosion of hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate at the Beirut port killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands, and ravaged large parts of the capital.
READ MORE: Travel agents facing a long hard road
Amanda Hodge 7.30pm: Ghosts of Suharto in Indonesia response
As COVID-19 infection rates have soared across Indonesia, soldiers have streamed out of barracks to help the civilian government and police force maintain public health “discipline”.
Leaving aside the novelty of deploying intelligence agents to Bali to help locals and tourists understand their role in stemming infection, the heightened street presence of uniformed military during the pandemic is not peculiar to Indonesia.
The Australian Defence Force has been contributing for months to pandemic control measures in Australia by supporting the repatriation of citizens, mandatory hotel quarantine arrangements, contact tracing and state and territory police border controls. Yet in Indonesia there are growing concerns about the so-called militarisation of the pandemic response.
Last weekend, the Indonesian government announced it would deploy yet more soldiers to Jakarta neighbourhoods — and those of eight other hard-hit provinces — to help police improve public understanding and compliance with regulations on mask wearing and social distancing.
The country’s total COVID-19 cases have doubled in six weeks to 248,852, with 9677 official deaths.
As each passing month brings more bad news — recession, millions of jobs lost and the region’s highest COVID-19 death rate — President Joko Widodo appears to lean more heavily on the Indonesian military (TNI) to help steer the country out of the crisis.
Dov Kieber, Rory Jones 7pm: Israel fines thousands of lockdown breakers
Most Israelis stayed indoors to celebrate Rosh Hashana in small groups, rather than the usually large gatherings that mark the Jewish New Year holiday, as the police fined thousands of people for violating a second nationwide lockdown aimed at containing a fresh coronavirus outbreak.
A 7000-strong police force fanned out across the country and issued 2800 penalties over the weekend, most for people leaving their homes for non-permitted reasons. Authorities also handed 30 fines to businesses that opened in violation of the lockdown.
Israel on Friday became the first developed country to impose a second lockdown to rein in a surge in coronavirus infections that has devastated the economy.
The restrictions come as Israel enters the high-holiday season — a period of travel and social gatherings that officials fear could further spread the virus that causes COVID-19. The lockdown is expected to last through the religious holidays of Yom Kippur and Sukkot, which ends on October 9. It aims to halt one of the worst daily infection rates per capita in the world — roughly 5000 cases a day last week.
Streets across Israel on Saturday and Sunday were nearly empty of cars, with cyclists and joggers taking advantage of the lack of traffic. Synagogues limited the size of congregations to 10 people, or spread out multiples of 10 in larger buildings, to comply with regulations.
Brianna Abbott 6.17pm: Could herd immunity kill the pandemic?
The concept of herd immunity is at the heart of global vaccination efforts and discussions about next steps in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and bringing back economies.
For the pandemic to stop, the coronavirus has to run out of susceptible hosts to infect. Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population develop an immune response, either through previous infection or vaccination, so the virus can’t spread easily and even those who aren’t immune have protection.
To reach herd immunity for COVID-19, public-health authorities estimate that around 60 per cent to 70 per cent of a given population would need to develop an immune response to the virus. Some epidemiologists and mathematicians now say herd effects might start to kick in before that point, at perhaps closer to 50 per cent, suggesting potential protection could be achieved sooner.
Rachel Baxendale 5.20pm: All Vic LGAs now have less than 100 active cases
All of Victoria’s local government areas now have fewer than 100 active cases of coronavirus — for the first time since July 4.
Brimbank, in Victoria’s outer west, has the highest active caseload, with 96 active cases — a net decrease of seven since Sunday — followed by Wyndham in the outer southwest with 76 active cases — a net decrease of 11 since Sunday.
Only two LGAs recorded net increases in active cases on Monday, namely Bayside — taking in Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Black Rock and Beaumaris in Melbourne’s southeast, and Frankston, in the outer southeast.
The redistribution of 34 cases, previously attributed to different LGAs, makes it difficult to determine which LGAs are linked to Monday’s new cases.
DHHS has offered no explanation for this redistribution, which has been occurring daily in recent weeks and suggests systematic errors were previously made in classifying cases.
There has been a total of 43 cases added to the cumulative totals of some LGAs on Monday — including four added to the “unknown” column, but a total of 34 removed from others.
Colac-Otway in Victoria’s southwest accounts for 10 of 23 active cases in regional Victoria on Monday — a decrease of two since Sunday.
Elsewhere in regional Victoria there are four active cases in the Gippsland LGA of Latrobe in Victoria’s east, two each in Geelong, Macedon Ranges and Moorabool, and one each in Baw Baw, Greater Bendigo and Horsham.
Emily Cosenza 4.55pm: Rethink travel if unwell: School holiday plea
Australians have been warned to remain COVID-safe as school holidays approach.
Deputy Chief Medical Office Dr Nick Coatsworth said people needed to be aware of how they were feeling before going anywhere.
He reminded people to wash their hands, remain socially distant and avoid leaving the house if unwell.
“Where there is movement, there is potential movement of COVID-19,” Dr Coatsworth said.
“Work out where the nearest COVID testing facility is for your particular holiday destination and if you are sick on the day you have to leave out of your major capital, don’t be the one that takes COVID-19 in regional communities in Australia … The licence to move is not a licence to move unsafely.
“We’re clearly looking at numbers within seven out of eight jurisdictions in Australia that do allow movement within states from urban to regional areas. There would be no point in restricting that sort of movement because the numbers would not favour that as a proportionate response.
“With those numbers being low, the obvious way to keep them low and keep our school holiday as close to how they usually are is to keep as COVID safe as possible and that’s a responsibility for everybody.
Term three holidays in NSW will run from September 28 to October 9 while Victorians and Queenslanders began their break on September 19 and will run until October 4.
Dr Coatsworth said just because Australia was entering the summer months, did not mean people could be complacent.
“We’ve all expressed concern in the decrease in testing rates … We can only ask Australians with even the most minimal symptoms to get tested.
“It’s going to be a challenge (to lift testing rates) because we’re moving into the months of the year where there is less respiratory virus.
“We just saw the first and second waves in the northern hemisphere taking place in the summer months so we can’t be complacent.”
There is a total of 26,912 cases of COVID-19 in Australia, which only increased by 16 in the past 24 hours.
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Rachel Baxendale 4.45pm: Casey ‘family’ cluster grows to seven households
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has clarified on Monday afternoon that the Casey cluster of 43 cases in Melbourne’s outer southeast “now encompasses cases across seven households”.
“No instances of workplace transmission have been identified at this stage,” a DHHS spokesman said.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Monday that no source of transmission had been identified for the cluster.
There were no new cases linked to the cluster on Monday.
The cluster has taken hold at a time when it has been illegal for Melburnians to make social visits to each other’s homes since July 7, when Stage Three stay-at-home restrictions were imposed.
READ MORE: Fewer infections raise hope for business
Rachel Baxendale 4.25pm: Active cases fall at Victoria aged care facilities
There are 332 active cases of coronavirus linked to Victorian aged care facilities as of Monday — 44 fewer than on Sunday.
As of Monday there have been 604 coronavirus deaths linked to aged care facilities in Victoria, including one of the two deaths reported in the 24 hours to Monday.
The 10 aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative total numbers of cases as of Monday and deaths as of September 8 (the most recent date for which data is available) are:
256 cases and 18 deaths linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer southwest (an increase of one case since Sunday);
— 219 cases and 35 deaths linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping, in Melbourne’s north;
— 216 cases and 44 deaths linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north;
— 166 cases and 17 deaths linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer, in Melbourne’s west;
— 140 cases and 20 deaths linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth, in Melbourne’s outer east;
— 131 cases and 11 deaths linked to BlueCross Ruckers Hill Aged Care Facility in Northcote, in Melbourne’s inner north (an increase of one case since Sunday);
— 128 cases and 20 deaths linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir, in Melbourne’s north;
— 124 cases and eight deaths linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North, in Melbourne’s west;
— 121 cases and 17 deaths linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury, in Melbourne’s outer northwest;
— 119 cases and 10 deaths linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg, in Melbourne’s northeast.
Non-aged care outbreaks with the highest numbers of active cases on Monday include:
— 28 active cases linked to the Casey community outbreak involving at least five households in Melbourne’s outer southeast, down from 30 active cases on Sunday (total cases: 43 – the same as Sunday);
— 10 active cases linked to Footscray Hospital in Melbourne’s inner west, down from 14 active cases on Sunday (total cases: 16 – the same as Sunday);
— Seven active cases linked to Alfred Hospital, up from six active cases on Sunday (total cases: eight, up from seven on Sunday);
— Five active cases linked to Wydinia Kindergarten in Colac in southwest regional Victoria, down from six on Sunday (total cases: 16 – the same as on Sunday).
READ MORE: Victoria wanted feds to pay for hotel guards
Rachel Baxendale 4.10pm: Victoria by the numbers: delays in death toll data
Of Victoria’s two newly reported deaths on Monday, one occurred prior to Sunday, but DHHS has not disclosed when it occurred.
This brings to 165 the total number of deaths added to Victoria’s death toll days and in some cases weeks after the event.
Of the 165, 65 of these deaths have been added in small daily instalments since 53 deaths were added in a single day on September 4, when Victorian authorities failed to clearly explain why it had taken them weeks to reconcile state, federal and nursing home records after Victoria and the federal government agreed on how this should be done on August 12.
No explanation has been offered as to why deaths are still being belatedly reported almost six weeks later.
Of 20,051 people who have had coronavirus in Victoria since the pandemic began, 18,567 have recovered – an increase of 94 since Sunday.
Of 657 active cases in Victoria on Monday, 631 are in people in metropolitan Melbourne, 23 are in people from regional Victoria, and three are from unknown locations or subject to further investigation.
Of the total number of cases since the pandemic began, 18,663 have been in people from Melbourne, while 1192 have been in those from regional Victoria.
There have been 9561 cases in men (47.7 per cent) and 10,476 in women (52.3 per cent).
Until the pandemic took hold in aged care facilities during Victoria’s second wave, slightly more men than women had the virus.
For example, on June 16, the split was 53.0 per cent to 47.0 per cent men to women.
The total number of cases in health workers has increased by nine since Sunday, to 3504, despite the number of active cases in health workers falling by 38 to 79.
There are four cases linked to residential disability accommodation – all of them in staff.
Rachel Baxendale 4.00pm: Victoria cluster breakdown data is back
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has finally resumed providing a breakdown of the clusters to which each day’s coronavirus cases have been linked, for the first time since June 16.
Of Victoria’s 11 new cases on Monday, five have been linked to known outbreaks, while six remain under investigation.
Of the five cases linked to known outbreaks:
— one is linked to Opal Aged Care in Hobsons Bay, in Melbourne’s inner southwest;
— one is linked to the Australian Meat Group abattoir in Dandenong South in Melbourne’s outer southeast. DHHS first publicly mentioned this cluster on September 9 but has not stated how many cases are linked;
— one is linked to Baptcare Wyndham Lodge Community aged care facility in Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer southwest. This is the site of Victoria’s largest aged care coronavirus cluster, linked to 256 cases as of Monday, and at least 18 deaths as of September 8;
— two are linked to Embracia aged care in Moonee Valley, in Melbourne’s northwest. As of September 8, this facility had been linked to 46 cases and five deaths;
No further information, such as local government area, has been provided regarding the six cases which remain under investigation.
The additional information comes after The Australian last week highlighted key failures in contact tracing in Victoria early in the state’s second wave, compared with what was done in NSW in the fortnight after both states had their first day of more than 10 locally acquired cases.
It also follows scrutiny of the level of detail about individual cases currently provided in each state health department’s daily coronavirus press release.
At Monday’s press conference The Australian asked Premier Daniel Andrews which outbreaks the day’s cases had been linked to.
“That’s detail that will be included in the Chief Health Officer’s press release,” Mr Andrews said.
Told that such information had not been included in CHO press releases for months, Mr Andrews said: “Well the Chief Health Officer’s release today will give you as much information as it possibly can.”
Asked why the cluster breakdown had not been a feature of recent daily press releases, Mr Andrews said: “I have no idea. That’s not data that is compiled by me, but I’m more than happy to follow it up for you.”
READ MORE: What it would it take for herd immunity to kill pandemic
Anthony Piovesan 3.20pm: Andrews fires up over mass virus breach
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has fired up over growing pressure to fine those who blatantly breached Melbourne’s 5km-radius rule and sparked a cluster of 43 infections in the southeastern suburbs.
“On the point of what is more valuable, a $1652 fine for someone who went to visit someone or the true fortune that comes from them telling us when they went there, who they spent time with, who we should be going and tracing, testing and locking down – this is not thousands of dollars. That is billions of dollars. Because that is the coup to getting us opened up,” the Premier told reporters on Monday morning.
“If you have a situation where any of those 43 people are not full, frank and independence, then you don’t stop it at 43. It becomes much, much bigger.”
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services testing commander Jeroen Weimar revealed members of five households in Hallem, Clyde, Narre Warren South and Cranbourne North travelled outside the mandated 5km radius, leading to the outbreak in Casey.
But they have not been fined. Instead, Mr Andrews alluded to the group responsible not being forthcoming with vital contact tracing information if they were to be slapped with fines for breaching lockdown measures.
“The true value, the true riches, the fortune out of this comes from the information that people who have got this virus give us. We are not changing our stance on that because the last thing we want to do is to try and do contact tracing where people are not being truthful. That is almost impossible,” the Premier said.
“It just means that people – not everyone perhaps – but I think a significant proportion of people will not give you the full story and if you haven’t got the full story you can contain this virus. Then we will all be locked down. We will all feel better because someone got a fine, but we will be in this for longer than we should be. That doesn’t make sense.”
The Premier also admitted on Monday six households could now be involved in the outbreak.
“I believe it is contained to a number of households. Whether it is still five, I would get advice on. I think it may be six households. It is all the same transmission,” he said.
READ MORE: Community motivated to beat this: Sutton
Rachel Baxendale 3.00pm: 826 tests done in Casey hot spot on Saturday
Testing sites in the coronavirus-plagued local government area of Casey in Melbourne’s outer southeast accounted for 826 tests taken on Saturday, amounting to 11.5 per cent of the total number of tests processed in Victoria on Sunday.
Casey is home to a cluster of 43 cases linked to at least five households which has been of concern to health authorities for the past week.
The Department of Health and Human Services has provided the following tallies of tests taken at sites around Casey on Saturday:
Clyde North – 40
Hallam – 63
Noble Park – 39
Monash Health – Dandenong – Dandenong hospital – 129
Monash Health – Dandenong – Carroll Lane – Dandy drive through – 134
Monash Health – Dandenong – McCrae St – Closed
Monash Health – Berwick – Casey hospital – 61
Monash Health – Cranbourne Casey fields – Casey Fields drive through – 180
Pakenham drive through – 90
Clayton hospital – 99
David Ross 1.25pm: Plibersek calls for construction sector plan
Labor shadow minister for education and training Tanya Plibersek has called on the government to address the looming collapse in construction volumes and boost work for Australia’s young.
“The prime minister is not going to fix it the way he’s going,” she said. “This isn’t going to be fixed by the prime minister dressing up like Bob the Builder in his tradie fluoros.”
Ms Plibersek said the Labor Party would support an infrastructure and housing plan that would require employers to employ apprentices.
“What we need to do to give young Australians hope for the future is be an economy that builds things” she said.
“The biggest jobs killer is the uncertainty we’ve had in energy policy for so many years.”
“Tomorrow will be the 22nd energy policy announcement we’ve had from the federal government but still no action to reduce prices or pollution.”
She said the government could look to use the numbers of out of work tradies in the future to build public housing and assist young Australians into the housing market.
“There are thousands of Australians who would love to buy their own home,” she said.
She said the government should boost funding to aged care and take responsibility for the failings that have taken place during the recent weeks of the pandemic.
don’t forget the problems in aged care predate COVID-19 this RC started before COVID-19 19,” she said.
“We need to have a federal government in the first instance that takes responsibility for aged care.”
Remy Varga 1.10pm: ADF role ‘would have been ideal’
Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the ADF would ideally have a role guarding hotel quarantine, according to meeting notes shown to the hotel quarantine inquiry.
But Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles, who is giving evidence on Wednesday, said in the March 27 that he assumed a private contractor would be used.
Mr Ashton said in the meeting notes: “Challenge will be static presence over a long period of time — will end up with some private security contractor or else the ADF ideally
Mr Eccles responds: “I assume a private contractor”.
Under a section labelled “Questions ?”, Mr Ashton is noted as saying: “ADF will be assisting in the spot-checking process from what the PM and the Premier confirmed … in addition to the other states we’re trying to keep the ADF presence back of house … to prevent the ADF presence obvious to the community.”
Graham Ashton asked about the role of the Australian Defence Force in the hotel quarantine program during a meeting between department secretaries on March 27.
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Remy Varga 12.55pm: ‘Accountability’ call over hotel quarantine
The hotel quarantine program was transferred to the Department of Justice and Community Safety to “centralise accountability”, the inquiry has heard.
Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles has faced the inquiry today.
According to a proposal to Victoria’s Crisis Council of Cabinet, the transferral would “help to ensure that the program can be delivered effectively and efficiently, with a single department responsible for co-ordination and delivery.
When asked by counsel assisting Rachel Ellyard if the program always should have been run by Corrections Victoria, instead of DHHS with assistance from EMV and DJPR, he said:
“I don’t think it’s as simple as saying everything would have been better if originally Corrections had been responsible for the program … it emerged over time what the particular complexities …. It became apparent private security was posing particular challenges.”
Mr Eccles was unable to say why Mr Andrews referred to the use of private security when he announced the hotel quarantine program at a press conference on March 27.
“I’m not able to help,”
He said information that underpinned media announcements came from the Premier’s office, of which the DPC at times assisted.
READ MORE: Travel agents facing long, hard road
Rachel Baxendale 12.30pm: 177 Victorians fined for lockdown breaches
Melburnians intercepted well beyond the 5km radius around their homes – and in some cases on their way to regional Victoria – were among 177 people fined by police in the 24 hours to Monday for breaching coronavirus restrictions.
Those caught breaking the rules included a man who was fined after being stopped at a checkpoint near Bacchus Marsh, west of Melbourne, having travelled more than 50km from the northern suburb of Coburg.
Another man was stopped at a checkpoint at Rosebud, on the Mornington Peninsula southeast of Melbourne, having travelled more than 45km from Cranbourne, in the coronavirus hotspot local government area of Casey in Melbourne’s outer southeast.
A man intercepted at a checkpoint in Frankston, also in Melbourne’s southeast, had travelled almost 50km from Doncaster in Melbourne’s east, telling police there weren’t “any nice parks in his area and he wanted to go to one because of the nice weather”.
Police also fined six people found at a city apartment, only three of whom were residents, as well as two men found in a rideshare vehicle in Melton, in Melbourne’s outer northwest, just before 4am on Sunday.
One man was from Deer Park, while the other was from Tarneit, both of which are more than 20km from Melton.
Police say the men told them they were going to visit family.
Under Melbourne’s current restrictions permitted work and seeking medical care are the only legal reasons for being more than 5km from home, or being out during the 9pm to 5am curfew.
Of the 177 people fined, 13 received $200 fines for failing to wear a face covering, while 45 received $1652 fines for breaching curfew.
There were six fines issued at vehicle checkpoints as a result of 15,714 checks on vehicles.
Police conducted 1,174 spot checks on people at homes, businesses and public places in Victoria on Sunday, with a total of 450,361 spot checks conducted since March 21.
Remy Varga 12pm: Top public servant in the dark on quarantine call
The commonwealth offered Australian Defence Force troops for hotel quarantine when Victoria asked for financial assistance to pay for private security guards, inquiry hears.
Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles told the inquiry on Monday he did not know who made the decision to use private security.
Shown emails between him and his commonwealth counterpart Phil Gaetjens where the state is offered ADF troops on April, Mr Eccles said it followed a phone call about paying for private security.
But under cross examination by counsel assisting Rachel Ellyard, he said the offer wasn’t necessarily an in-kind replacement.
“It could equally just be an addition without being at the expense of private security,” he said.
When Ms Ellyard asked him if as Victoria’s top public servant he should know who made the decision to use private security, Mr Eccles said it raised interesting questions about collective governance.
When Ms Ellyard asked if those involved in the decision making should know of their own involvement, Mr Eccles said: “By definition … If there’s been a failure of acknowledgment, jointly and separately, around the decision of the collective then I think that’s a fault or a flaw of the design.”
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Brent Read 11.30am: NRL announces savage staff cuts
The NRL informed staff on Monday morning of plans to cut 25 per cent of the organisations’s workforce in a bid to save up to $50 million. Read more here
David Ross 11.10am: NSW issues alert over Sydney taxi trips
NSW Health has identified passengers who booked the taxi in this period directly. These passengers are treated as close contacts and must get tested and isolate for a full 14 days since they were in the taxi even if the test is negative. They must get tested again if any symptoms develop. NSW Health is seeking to identify passengers who caught the Silver Service taxi on the following times and locations. These passengers should call the NSW Health Call Centre on 9391 9000 for further advice.
• Trip 8/9/2020: Pickup Liverpool TAFE college, Bigge Street Liverpool 13:03 – Drop off Hoxton Park Road Cartwright 13:14
• Trip 8/9/2020: Pickup Liverpool TAFE college, Bigge Street Liverpool 14:01 – Drop off Glenwari St Sadlier 14:11
• Trip 9/9/2020: Pickup Liverpool TAFE college, Bigge Street Liverpool 08:08 – Drop off Moorebank Shopping centre, Stockton Ave Moorebank 8:15
• Trip 10/9/2020: Pickup Liverpool 14:38 – Drop off Graham Ave Casula 14:44
• Trip 10/9/2020: Pickup Haddenham St Chipping Norton 19:15 – Drop off George St Burwood 19:48
• Trip 14/9/20: Pickup Riverside Road Chipping Norton 15:50 – Drop off The Mill Hotel, Beaconsfield St Milperra 16:04
• Trip 15/9/2020: Pickup Riverside Road Chipping Norton 08:31 – Drop off Birnie Ave Lidcombe 9:11
• Trip 15/9/2020: Pickup Milperra 10:14 – Drop off Riverside Rd Chipping Norton 10:25
• Trip 15/9/2020: Pickup Birnie Ave Lidcombe 15:22 – Drop off Riverside Rd Chipping Norton 16:07
David Ross 11.05am: Four new cases recorded in NSW
NSW has recorded four new cases of COVID-19, but only one was acquired in the community.
Three new cases were confirmed in travellers in hotel quarantine.
The new cases in NSW take the total to 4015.
The new case acquired by a member of the community is not considered a risk, as the person was already in isolation as a known close contact of someone who had acquired the virus as part of the Concord hospital COVID-19 cluster.
Four new cases of #COVID19 were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 21, 2020
Of the four new cases:
- 3 are returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine
- 1 is locally acquired linked to a known case or cluster pic.twitter.com/GZen7omOMF
However, once again, testing numbers over the weekend concerned NSW Health, with only 7765 tests recorded.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said increased testing could assist in flushing out unknown cases and “identify any undetected chains of transmission in the community”.
This comes after the concerning case of a Sydney taxi driver who worked several days while infectious and visited several locations in west and south-west Sydney and the South Coast.
The taxi driver acquired his infection via a link to the CBD-Tattersalls club COVID-19 cluster.
NSW Health has urgently been working to determine whom the taxi driver came into contact with but has been unable to pin down all passengers.
A list of dates, times, locations have been published on the NSW Health website and anyone who took a taxi Moorebank, Bankstown, Chipping Norton, Liverpool, Lidcombe, Warwick Farm and Milperra on September 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are urged to cross-check their trips with those posted online.
READ MORE: Banks brace for default tsunami
Shae McDonald 10.40am: Qld karaoke bar hits an off note
A Brisbane karaoke bar has become the latest Queensland venue to be penalised for ignoring warnings and intentionally breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
The Sunnybank premises was one of two to be fined at the weekend, after 662 police checks across the state.
The other was a hotel in the Fortitude Valley night-life precinct.
It came as one new coronavirus case was reported in Queensland on Monday.
Queensland Police Service Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said both of the venues had previously been warned, one for not keeping customer records and the other for not maintaining social distancing.
“They chose not to take that warning that was given to them formally through police and the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation,” he said on Monday.
The latest breaches come less than a month after another Fortitude Valley venue was fined.
Shah Kebabs copped a $6772 penalty after footage emerged online of an impromptu rave inside the business.
Mr Gollschewski said police also fined six individuals at the weekend, after they failed to comply with exemptions given to them.
However, he said overall people were doing the right thing.
READ MORE: Christmas crunch is coming
Rachel Baxendale 10.15am: Six Victoria cases under investigation
Victoria’s 11 new coronavirus cases on Monday have brought the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 20,051, after two cases from August were reclassified.
Of the 11 new cases, five have so far been linked to known outbreaks, while six remain under investigation.
Unlike NSW, Victoria is not currently providing a breakdown of which clusters the cases have been linked to, nor what details are known about the cases under investigation.
Two deaths reported in the 24 hours to Monday bring Victoria’s death toll since the pandemic began to 763.
The latest deaths include those of a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 100s, one of whom was in aged care.
The coronavirus death toll linked to Victorian aged care facilities is now 604.
There are 92 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus on Monday, including six in intensive care, of whom three are on ventilators.
This compares with 94 in hospital on Sunday, including eight in intensive care, of whom five were on ventilators.
READ MORE: Making a virtue signal out of social necessities
Robert Gottliebsen 9.40am: Andrews takes a dark, Orwellian turn
Most Australians, and certainly all Victorians, are relieved that the severe lockdown has slashed the COVID-19 infection rate in the state. But what few realise is that, despite the lower infection rate, Daniel Andrews and his government late last week put before the Victorian Parliament one of the most horrific attacks on democratic freedoms introduced by a Western government.
Like all government actions that give “authorised” non-police people almost unlimited power, the proposed legislation may be administered well, but the potential dangers to the citizens of Victoria are without precedent.
It should be underlined that whereas the first wave of COVID-19 infections were nationwide and part of a global infection spread, the major Australian second wave was confined to Victoria and was caused by Victorian government ministers and public servants bungling hotel quarantine.
To remedy the situation what was required was a set of actions that clearly set out the responsibilities of the myriad of public servants that became embroiled in the scandal.
Instead what is proposed is a new attack on the victims of that ministerial and public service catastrophe.
READ the full article here
Rachel Baxendale 9.15am: Andrews to give update at 10am AEST
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is due to hold a press conference at 10am, alongside his Deputy Premier and Education Minister James Merlino.
Sarah Elks 9.05am: Queensland records one new case
Queensland has recorded just one new case of COVID-19 overnight, an arrival from overseas in hotel quarantine.
There are now 17 active cases in the state.
Monday, 21 September – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) September 20, 2020
• 1 new confirmed case
• 17 active cases
• 1,153 total confirmed cases
• 1,067,786 tests conducted
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,124 patients have recovered.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/nsvtHCRLHf
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said “disappointingly” eight fines were issued over the weekend, including to two licensed premises in Fortitude Valley and Sunnybank – a karaoke bar and a hotel.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the Gabba would run a small trial of increased density in the crowd, as a trial run for the AFL grand final.
“They just want to test that process with 200 people who’ve agreed to be part of that trial … the using of masks and how people remain in the seats, how all that is managed,” Dr Young said.
“Instead of having one in two seats vacant, there will be one in four seats vacant.”
“Outdoor events are much safer than indoor events.”
Dr Young said in the event of a COVID-19 case at the football, it would be easy to contact-trace because people had assigned seats.
READ MORE: Palaszczuk: health response highway to future
David Ross 8.55am: Coatsworth – beware complacency as numbers fall
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth has welcomed Victoria’s new low of infections as “great news”.
“But we need to keep in mind that there’s still a way to go. When Victorians come out of restrictions, particularly in Melbourne, the complacency has to be avoided,” he said.
“We know how to stop this virus, if we limit household gatherings, wash hands frequently
and have the COVID safe app download and main tan physical distance and of course mask-wearing being mandatory, these things will allow us to lift restrictions safely.”
Mr Coatsworth said he was concerned testing rates would decline, which would prevent health authorities catching infection chains in the community.
“Regardless of how mild your symptoms are, testing is the way that we find these early cases that we stop the chains of transmission from growing into clusters, from growing into outbreaks and it’s how we are going to maintain control over the summer months,” he said.
He said the potential for an outbreak arising from the Sydney taxi driver was concerning.
“Fortunately that taxi driver had COVID safe installed on their phone which will be assisting contact tracers at the moment. They did exactly the right thing by getting themselves tested and now the public health authorities will be working overtime to make sure again that those particular cases do not turn into a larger outbreak,” he said.
Speaking later, Mr Coatsworth said the video which surfaced on the Today show showing staff at AdventCare Whitehorse aged care facility dancing, singing, and mingling with residents while not wearing masks, was concerning.
“We can’t have any exceptions to the rules, particularly in aged-care and PPE, it absolutely has to be used. The masks have to be used during all interactions,” he said on The Today Show.
But he rejected suggestions in the media there had been a shortage of masks for healthcare workers.
“I have been in very close contact with Dr Andrew Wilson from Safer Care Victoria. We have millions of N-95 masks in the national stockpile and equally Victoria does as well,” he said.
“The key is that nobody holds infinite quantities of personal protective equipment. Provided the guidelines are followed then we have more than enough PPE to protect the healthcare workers.”
READ MORE: Andrews as stubborn as virus and both are struggling
David Ross 8.45am: Stranded WA couple return to Australia
West Australian couple Candice and Chris Dix have touched down in Sydney after being stranded in Ukraine with their newborn babies for two months.
The two travelled to Ukraine in July to meet the children born to them by a surrogate mother.
Ms Dix said she was pleased to be back but felt sorry for those less lucky.
“We would have kissed the tarmac if we didn’t have our respirators on,” she told the Today Show.
“It is a bit bittersweet just knowing about other families that are stuck over there.”
The two will quarantine in Sydney for two weeks before being reunited with their two sons in Perth.
READ MORE: Health response opens highway to future
Rachel Baxendale 8.05am: Victoria records new low with 11 cases
Victoria has recorded another drop in cases, with just 11 cases and two deaths over the last 24 hours.
#COVID19VicData: Yesterday there were 11 new cases & the loss of 2 lives reported. Our thoughts are with all affected.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) September 20, 2020
The 14 day rolling average & number of cases with unknown source are down from yesterday as we move toward COVID Normal. Info https://t.co/eTputEZdhs #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/ZGICZrtHCo
The 11 new cases represent the lowest daily increase since June 16, more than three months ago, when nine new cases were reported.
The two deaths bring Victoria’s coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began to 763 – all but 19 of which have occurred as part of the state’s second wave of the virus, sparked by breaches in the Andrews government’s hotel quarantine program.
Melbourne’s 14 day daily average number of new cases is now 34.4, down from 36.2 on Sunday
This compares with a 14 day daily average of 1.6 in regional Victoria, down from 1.8 on Sunday.
There have been 47 cases with an unknown source of infection in metropolitan Melbourne in the most recent fortnight for which this statistic is available, compared with 52 in Sunday’s figures.
Regional Victoria has had no unknown source cases over the same fortnight, which spans September 5 to September 18.
In order for Melbourne to move to its next step of relaxing coronavirus restrictions by next Sunday September 28, the 14-day daily average needs to be 30-50 – a threshold already achieved.
This will enable public outdoor gatherings of up to five people from up to two households, the resumption of childcare, and a staged return to the classroom for Prep to Grade Two and VCE students.
For the following step, which would see Melburnians released from a stay-at-home lockdown and a curfew by October 26, the statewide 14-day daily average needs to fall below five cases, with fewer than five cases with an unknown source over that fortnight.
READ MORE: PM’s plan to subsidise new jobs
David Ross 7.55am: Tehan: Overseas students will help uni sector
Federal education minister Dan Tehan has declined to reveal what would form part of the research rescue package being prepared for the university sector but said returning students from overseas could help the industry.
“We managed to get 80 per cent of our international students here this year but with the international student market now looking like it will be severely diminished that looks like it will have a serious impact,” he told Radio National Breakfast.
“We’re working with the sector to see what we can do to help in research.”
But he said it was important to ensure Australians could return from overseas before pushing to bring in international students.
“We’ve got make sure we’re getting Australian residents back into the country first and they’re quarantined,” he said.
“It’s complicated especially by what happened in Victoria with the quarantine system there.”
David Ross 7.50am: NSW MP: I quit Nats over unfathomable koala putsch
NSW MP Leslie Williams, who quit the NSW Nationals in a shock move over the weekend, said she was forced to make the move after John Barilaro’s koala putsch.
“I’ve been in Port Macquarie for almost 9 and a half years. We’ve seen unprecedented investment, new bridges and roads and more police and nurses and I think, to put that into jeopardy by holding the government to ransom is really unnecessary and just unfathomable,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“At the end of the day, I just want to get on with the job of delivering for my community. They have always been at the forefront of every decision I’ve made, every action I’ve taken.”
Ms Williams has now joined the NSW Liberal party.
“There are some others, both members of the party and colleagues, who are feeling disappointed about what we’ve seen happen over the last couple of weeks. There are decisions they’ll have to make about their future and the future of their communities,” she said.
READ MORE: Williams defects over ‘reckless’ Barilaro
David Ross 7.40am: Littleproud – relax borders for nationwide recovery
Federal agriculture minister David Littleproud has said states needed to relax their borders if Australia was to make an economic recovery from the recession.
“We have got the science, let’s back ourselves with the science. I get the premiers like to look after their states but this is about the nation, about paying sure we keep the nation going,” he said.
“We have got a great big dirty debt we are going to have to pay back. The only way to do that is to open up our freedoms in a responsible, safe way to get the economy moving.”
“If premiers don’t like that they have got to learn that we are in untested times and you’ve got to back one another and support one another.”
READ MORE: A very uneven recovery
David Ross 7.30am: Concerns over maskless aged care staff party
Footage has emerged of staff at the AdventCare Whitehorse aged care facility in Melbourne dancing, singing, and mingling with residents while not wearing masks.
The video was revealed on Nine’s The Today Show and comes as outbreaks in aged care continue to trouble Victoria, with some facilities in Melbourne recording more than 20 new cases last week.
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic said AdventCare CEO David Reece said there was no issue with the video, saying staff put on PPE after the performance.
“He is comfortable with how the party was played out. That party being for a staff member.,” Mr Stefanovic said.
“We have contacted Victoria Police to see if it is a breach of the chief health officer’s orders. They tell us no formal complaint yet has been received.”
READ MORE: Goods rebound but services lag
David Ross 7.20am: Race to trace taxi driver’s contacts
An alert remains in place for West and Southwest Sydney and the South Coast after a taxi driver worked nine shifts while infectious with COVID-19
Contact tracers have a massive job ahead of them after issuing a huge list of venues attended by the taxi driver.
PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT: New locations in Western and South Western Sydney and the South Coast visited by a person who tested positive for #COVID19.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 19, 2020
We are also warning people who may have taken taxis in Western and South Western Sydney to watch for symptoms: https://t.co/hQrRUJMxpp pic.twitter.com/BrAXqim8je
People who caught a taxi on September 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the following suburbs must monitor for symptoms and if any develop immediately get tested:
Moorebank, Bankstown, Chipping Norton, Liverpool, Lidcombe, Warwick Farm and Milperra.
Anyone who attended the following venues for a least one hour during the following times is considered to be a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days since they were there. They must stay isolated for the entire period, even if a negative test result is received, as 14 days is the maximum time it generally takes for COVID-19 to develop:
Campbelltown Golf Club, Glen Alpine – 16 September, 2pm-4.30pm
Milton Ulladulla Ex Servos Club – 12 September, 2pm-6.15pm
Carlo’s Italian Restaurante Bar & Seafood, Ulladulla – 12 September, 8pm-9.30pm
Bannisters Pavilion Rooftop Bar & Grill, Mollymook – 13 September, 12.30pm-2.15pm
Mama Wok, MacArthur Square Campbelltown 9 September 1:30pm-2:30pm
Anyone who attended the following venues at the specified times below is also considered a casual contact.
Picnic Point Bowling Club – 18 September, 3pm-6pm
Campbelltown Golf Club course Glen Alpine – 16 September, 9.30am-2pm
Wray St Oyster Shed Batemans Bay 12 September, 12pm-1pm.
READ MORE: Death of man in 70s raises toll
David Ross 7.15am: US death toll set to top 200,000
Deaths from coronavirus in the United States will likely top 200,000 by the end of the day as the global death toll approaches one million.
More than 30.87m people have contracted the coronavirus in the 10 months since the start of the pandemic.
The US remains the worst affected country by a total case measure, followed by India and Brazil, but the growth of new infections appears to be continuing almost unchecked in several countries in South America and Africa.
More than one million tests were undertaken in the US on Saturday as cases balloon towards 6.8m, but experts say to get growth under control the country needed to test between six and 10 million Americans each day.
The case growth comes as US President Donald Trump held his first indoor event in weeks in North Carolina in what some have suggested could be a super spreader event.
Several countries that instituted harsh lockdown measures early on in the pandemic, or were held up as solid performers in stopping the spread of the virus are now in the throes of a second wave.
Israel, one of the early best performers against COVID-19 re-entered a lockdown on Friday after cases in the community exploded, spread by close living conditions in religious communities.
A few thousand protesters gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest the imposition of the lockdown and call for the resignation of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who they say mishandled the later stage of the pandemic, allowing new infections to spiral out of control.
England is entering its second week of a second lockdown in response to a second wave now sweeping the UK.
Cases in the UK have jumped more than 4000 to 394,257. Deaths, up 18 to 41,777, are yet to reflect the surge of cases which some say is because many new infections are the young.
UK health secretary Matt Hancock has warned the government would introduce $17,730 fines for people who fail to self-isolate if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 or as a close contact of someone with the virus.
Already more than 19,000 fines have been issued in England and Wales for alleged breaches of coronavirus laws but more than half have not been paid so far.
France is resisting reimposing broader lockdowns but has reported more than 10,500 new cases in the last 24 hours.
However, the new case growth is down on the 13,000 reported on Saturday.
Lockdowns have been reimposed in Nice on the French Riviera, where gatherings of more than 10 people in public spaces have been banned and bars forced to shut early.
Marseilles and Bordeaux will introduce similar measures on Monday.
Myanmar has announced stay-at-home lockdowns for its largest city of Yangon after a record daily rise in new cases of 671 on Sunday.
Schools will be shut and anyone who can work at home will be required to, but it is unclear in the poor country how effective this will be.
The country has recorded 5541 infections since the start of the pandemic and had managed several weeks with no new cases.
The latest outbreak has been traced to the western state of Rakhine and is believed to have arrived after the virus crossed the border from Bangladesh or India.
Chinese authorities are reporting they have discovered COVID-19 viral particles on imported squid packaging after testing and have urged anyone who bought the squid to get tested for the virus.
READ MORE: Travel agents face a long hard road
Staff writers 6.15am: Brits to be fined $18,000 for breaching self-isolation
The British government is set to introduce fines of up to £10,000 (AUD$18,000) for people who breach self-isolation rules as a second wave sweeps the country.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, urged people to report anyone breaching an isolation order, warning that the police would “come down hard on people who do the wrong thing”.
“If we want to avoid national measures and more action we can, but we can only do that if everybody follows the rules,” he told The Times.
The fines for breaching self-isolation rules will start at £1,000 but could increase to £10,000 for repeat offences. People on low incomes will be paid £500 to self-isolate at home in a “carrot and stick” approach.
Daily infections rose to a four-month high of 4,422 on Sunday, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make a television address to the nation on Tuesday to announce a further tightening of restrictions.
However his cabinet is divided on how far-reaching the new measures should be.
This weekend the prime minister is locked in a furious debate with his cabinet, including Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, warned Mr Johnson that a further shutdown of hospitality and leisure venues would be devastating to the economy.
With The Times
READ MORE: Jet maintenance flying high in pandemic
John Ferguson 5.45am: Fewer infections raise fresh hope for business
Daniel Andrews has left open the option of an accelerated road map out of lockdown with the number of new COVID-19 cases in Victoria falling sharply.
The Victorian Premier is under intense pressure to speed up the easing of tight coronavirus restrictions — with only 14 new cases recorded on Sunday — as major logistics companies, retailers and real estate agents warn of serious economic pain for every day they remain shut.
The 14 cases is the lowest in more than three months and Mr Andrews said that isolating aged, healthcare and high-risk industries would lead to an even more dramatic fall in case rates.
The falling caseload has been embraced by 6.7 million Victorians who have been subjected to months of restrictions fuelled by the failed handling of hotel quarantine.
Josh Frydenberg told The Australian Victoria should seize on the more palatable coronavirus landscape, arguing the steady improvement would help to reopen the economy and provide workers with economic security.
“The sooner the Victorian economy is opened up, the better, so that people can get back to work, businesses can reopen and kids get back to school,’’ the Treasurer said.
READ the full story here
Richard Ferguson, Simon Benson 1.55am: Scott Morrison’s plan to subsidise new jobs
Scott Morrison is considering wage incentives for businesses to take on extra workers as part of a comprehensive jobs plan to fast-track the post COVID-19 economic recovery that will be unveiled in the October 6 budget.
With support from the JobKeeper and JobSeeker programs to begin to taper from next week, the federal budget will look to boost incentives for companies to re-engage workers and employ staff as COVID-19 restrictions lift.
As Josh Frydenberg finishes a budget that is expected to have a record deficit exceeding $200bn, senior government sources are buoyed by lower infection rates in Victoria and say the success of the nation’s second-largest state in suppressing its second wave will be crucial to the speed of the recovery.
The jobs incentive plan would likely involve the government making a conditional contribution towards the wages of new employees so small and medium-sized businesses could take on extra staff as the government seeks to drive down the unemployment rate.
The recovery plan, which is expected to bring forward planned income tax cuts, will also include major infrastructure and skills programs with an emphasis on regional towns that are expected to receive a boost from the increase in telecommuting sparked by lockdowns.
The Prime Minister said on Sunday the budget would seek to boost the economy by moving workers off income-support programs and into work.
Read the full story here.
Emily Ritchie 1.30am: Trapped families seek quiet help
Rape crisis and family violence organisations across the country say women trapped at home are turning in large numbers to online chat services, harder for their partners to detect, as the coronavirus pandemic makes phone calls and walk-ins impossible.
Some of the country’s most experienced family violence advocates say such figures reflect the statistic that women are more likely to experience violence from a known person and in their home.
The Weekend Australian on Saturday reported the story of Virginia Tapscott, who was sexually assaulted by her step-grandfather.
In telling her story, Ms Tapscott referred to a recent study from Swinburne University of Technology that found people abused as children are five times more likely than the general population to be assaulted again as an adult.
The findings were drawn from a sample group of 2759 Australian boys and girls who were medically confirmed to have been sexually abused between 1964 and 1995.
The analysis found that they were more likely to be victimised again because their existing trauma predisposed them to substance abuse, making them more vulnerable to future sexual predators.
Read more: Family violence victims turn to online support
Jared Lynch 1.15am: Booking.com founder bets on ‘mask for life’
When booking.com co-founder Adrian Critchlow watched nurses take care of his father, who was dying from COVID-19, and saw the lack of personal protective equipment they had access to, he knew he had to do something.
That determination has only grown in past months as scores of disposable face masks became more available before overflowing bins and ending up in landfill and waterways.
Soon his ambition will become reality when what he calls “a mask for life” will start rolling off a production line in Melbourne factory.
Mr Critchlow, who sold his stake in booking.com 16 years ago, is a successful entrepreneur and has invested up to $5m in developing a reusable mask, which features the same technology used in equipment to protect British soldiers and NASA astronauts.
The need for face masks will hopefully decline when the pandemic starts to ease and a potential vaccine is found, but Mr Critchlow is betting on the PPE becoming a permanent feature of people’s lives.
“People are going to be cautious about travelling on public transport and being out in public for a while, and interestingly flu numbers were down this year because of social distancing and mask-wearing,” Mr Critchlow said.
“Hopefully, we won’t be wearing masks all the time but I think mask-wearing will become a new norm and our focus is on emergency services and businesses where it becomes part of the uniform.”
Before the pandemic struck, demand for face masks began to increase during the devastating bushfires over summer as Australians sought to shield themselves from toxic smoke that blanketed capital cities and many regions.
Continue reading the full story here.
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Keith Pitt to be appointed Ambassador to the Holy See
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Ministers briefed on threats on ‘case-by-case basis’: AFP
Commissioner Reece Kershaw and senior AFP staff are speaking at a joint parliamentary hearing in Canberra following Anthony Albanese allegedly being left in the dark about the caravan terror plot.