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Coronavirus Australia update: Woolworths to shed 1,300 jobs while NSW advises businesses 'not to interact' with Melbourne travellers Coronavirus Australia update: Malcolm Turnbull apologises for robodebt as NSW advises businesses 'not to interact' with Melbourne travellers
(32 minutes later)
Retailer says it expects to pay out more than $170m in redundancies. Follow live Former PM says he is very sorry scheme has ‘created dismay and distress’
Malcolm Turnbull says he was “absolutely shocked” by the allegations of sexual harassment levelled at former High Court justice Dyson Heydon. (Heydon denies the allegations, which were upheld by an inquiry established by the court.) On the ABC, Bill Shorten says he thinks a lot of people are “very cheesed off at the people who did go” to the Black Lives Matter protest.
Turnbull said: “The key here is, this is about power. This is about men abusing their power over women and we must have zero tolerance for at.” He adds:
The former PM Malcolm Turnbull is on the ABC. He’s taking questions from Patricia Karvelas about reports of cyber attacks, which Scott Morrison referred to at a press conference on Friday. Tim Kennedy, the national secretary of the United Workers Union, has called for unemployment benefits to remain at the current level “at a minimum”, rather than dropping back to $40 a day in September.
In an emphatic pitch to the Senate select committee on Covid-19 this afternoon, he said an elevated payment was needed to ensure “a floor of dignity”.
As it stands the Cover-19 supplement – which effectively increased the rate of jobseeker – is due to expire in late September, but the government has been tight-lipped on whether it could reach some sort of compromise rate into the future.
When asked by the Greens senator Rachel Siewert what level jobseeker should be maintained at, Kennedy said forcing people to live on about $40 a day was “inhumane in a society as wealthy as ours”. He said it had also been a disincentive for people being able to find work.
Kennedy also called for another review “and we may need it to move further upwards because we need to put a floor of dignity into the community so people can actually learn, and improve their skills, so we can actually have a highly skilled workforce of tomorrow”.
Kennedy also spoke to the committee about the jobkeeper scheme, saying it was important to remember many people were underemployed through no fault of their own coming into the crisis. He cautioned against focusing on certain workers who may be receiving more than they had in the past.
People who live along the border of New South Wales and Victoria were left confused about bushfire movements because the fire-tracking apps produced by the Rural Fire Service of NSW and Emergency Management Victoria did not share information, used different colour-coding systems, and used different symbols, the bushfire royal commission has heard.
The chief executives of Towong shire council, in Victoria, and the Snowy Valley and Snowy Monaro councils, both in Victoria, told the inquiry on Wednesday that the apparent lack of information sharing between fire agencies in Victoria and NSW meant some residents were confused about what was happening, because the apps did not show fires burning on both sides of the border.
Matthew Hyde, chief executive of the Snowy Valleys Council, said that if a fire started in NSW, “the RFS maintained the fire information until it crossed the border and then it didn’t maintain that information”.
Peter Bascomb, chief executive of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, said the different colours used by the two apps to indicate fires that were at an emergency warning, watch and act or advice level also left them open to misinterpretation.
Both the Emergency Vic app and the RFS’s Fires Near Me app use red to indicate fires under an emergency warning level. But NSW uses blue for watch and act and yellow for advice, and Victoria uses yellow for watch and act and blue for advice. If you’re constantly switching between apps to track a fire moving across the Murray River, Bascomb said, that can get confusing and people could be “potentially misled about what is actually happening”.
There were also significant differences in how emergency evacuation centres were managed. Victorian authorities set up an evacuation centre at Delegate, which is just on the NSW side of the border, for people fleeing the East Gippsland fires. It was fully established and stocked by state government services. But a NSW-run centre, at Coomba, was not fully stocked.
Bascomb said:
At one point Bascomb called the NSW welfare agency to send someone to support the Delegate centre, but neglected to tell them ahead of time that the evacuees were Victorian.
Malcolm Turnbull has also apologised for the robodebt scheme, saying he is “very sorry that it worked out the way it did”.
Turnbull was the prime minister at the time the program was introduced, while the current PM, Scott Morrison, was the social services minister.
He says he regrets they way it “worked out”. Asked if he sought legal advice at the time, he said he assumed that the cabinet ministers involved had gone through all the correct processes.
Turnbull says income matching was “not new” but that the way the program was “designed and, I think, in particular implemented, left a lot to be desired”.
Labor today called for a royal commission into the scheme.
Malcolm Turnbull has said he cannot see the “rationale for increasing, doubling the cost of humanities degrees”, as proposed by the Morrison government.
He tells the ABC:
Malcolm Turnbull says he was “absolutely shocked” by the allegations of sexual harassment levelled at former high court justice Dyson Heydon. (Heydon denies the allegations, which were upheld by an inquiry established by the court.)
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is on the ABC. He’s taking questions from Patricia Karvelas about reports of cyber attacks, which Scott Morrison referred to at a press conference on Friday.
Turnbull thinks it can be “very valuable” to name the attacker – in this case believed to be China – but he also acknowledges that managing that relationship is complex.Turnbull thinks it can be “very valuable” to name the attacker – in this case believed to be China – but he also acknowledges that managing that relationship is complex.
In general, Turnbull says Beijing has been guilty of a “series of overreactions”.In general, Turnbull says Beijing has been guilty of a “series of overreactions”.
The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, says about 800 people will arrive in Adelaide by 28 June as repatriation flights continue.The South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, says about 800 people will arrive in Adelaide by 28 June as repatriation flights continue.
One flight will come from South America, potentially two will come from India, and a defence force contingent will arrive from Indonesia.One flight will come from South America, potentially two will come from India, and a defence force contingent will arrive from Indonesia.
Stevens said on Tuesday:Stevens said on Tuesday:
The Tasmanian government is expected to reveal on Friday when the state’s borders will reopen.The Tasmanian government is expected to reveal on Friday when the state’s borders will reopen.
Peter Gutwein, the state’s premier, said he was worried about the situation in Victoria, where cases have continued to rise.Peter Gutwein, the state’s premier, said he was worried about the situation in Victoria, where cases have continued to rise.
Gutwein has spoken with the South Australian government, which has allowed Tasmanians to enter the state.Gutwein has spoken with the South Australian government, which has allowed Tasmanians to enter the state.
Tasmania moves to stage 3 restrictions on Friday.Tasmania moves to stage 3 restrictions on Friday.
Australians spent 19 % more on alcohol last week than they did a year ago, with bottle-shop spending up 42%, Commonwealth Bank data reveals.Australians spent 19 % more on alcohol last week than they did a year ago, with bottle-shop spending up 42%, Commonwealth Bank data reveals.
The bank said spending at bottle shops was up 42% last week, compared with the same time last year.The bank said spending at bottle shops was up 42% last week, compared with the same time last year.
In a new weekly report on consumer behaviour, the bank said spending on both food and alcohol for the week ending Friday was up 19%.It said consumer spending overall continued to improve last week, albeit at a modest pace, AAP reported.In a new weekly report on consumer behaviour, the bank said spending on both food and alcohol for the week ending Friday was up 19%.It said consumer spending overall continued to improve last week, albeit at a modest pace, AAP reported.
The bank’s weekly report on credit and debit-card spending said:The bank’s weekly report on credit and debit-card spending said:
But spending on recreation (including air travel and accommodation) was down 9%, and spending on transport was down 7% as more people work from home.But spending on recreation (including air travel and accommodation) was down 9%, and spending on transport was down 7% as more people work from home.
Spending on household furnishings and equipment was up 42%, and personal care spending was up 13% as beauty and barber shops reopen.Spending on household furnishings and equipment was up 42%, and personal care spending was up 13% as beauty and barber shops reopen.
The head of the retail workers’ union has floated giving shopping centre security guards temporary powers to crack down on social distancing.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary, Gerard Dwyer, also wants a national rollout of public health officials to police shopping precincts, AAP reports.
Dwyer told the coronavirus Senate inquiry on Tuesday:
Testing delays are continuing in Melbourne. For those not in Victoria, Fountain Gate and Chadstone are not close – about 25km by freeway apart, in fact.
Hi everyone. Thanks to Amy for her work today. If you want to get in touch, you can email me at luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com or via Twitter @lukehgomes.
On that note, I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Luke Henriques-Gomes for the next part of the afternoon.
Thank you so much for joining me for my stint today. I’ll be back with you early tomorrow morning. Make sure, as always, you take care of you.
Ahhhhhh nothing like appealing to the base when you’re in the middle of a preselection battle.
Murph has written on some of the very awkward dynamics at the Scott Morrison Eden-Monaro press conference:
Cafe owners inside Melbourne’s Covid-19 hotspots say business has slowed since the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advised against travel to and from the areas on Sunday.
“In the last couple of weeks everyone started to relax a lot, and that anxiety really has come back up,” said Alex Killerby, the floor supervisor at Lobbs cafe in Brunswick, located in the Covid-19 hotspot areas of Moreland.
Several blocks away, the Brunswick East primary school was shut down this morning after a student tested positive.
There has been a spike in community transmission of the virus around Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs.
Killerby said:
Lobbs had planned to open up from 24 seats to 40 when restrictions were set to ease this week, but those plans have now been put on hold.
Several doors down at the A1 bakery, manager Anthony Raji said being unable to reopen was frustrating but he was still feeling optimistic.
Spoke too soon on the cheery news in retail. Woolworths has now announced mass redundancies.
The company has reported to the ASX that it plans to develop “an automated regional distribution centre and a semi-automated national distribution centre at Moorebank Logistics Park in Sydney.”
That’s going to mean job losses of more than 1,300 people, with the company announcing it expects to pay out more than $170m in redundancies.
Meanwhile, the cost of repaying staff who had been underpaid has risen by $90m to $390m from its initial estimate last year.
Woolworths shares were down by 0.5% after the supermarket giant revealed the cost of repaying underpaid workers had blown out to $390m, up from its initial estimate of $300m last year.
It said:
AAP has more on WA’s offer to the AFL (and the two west coast teams):
West Coast and Fremantle players are rejoicing after confirmation they won’t have to quarantine in a hotel when they go back to Western Australia.
With both of WA’s AFL clubs in a month-long hub on the Gold Coast, there were fears players would have to spend 14 days quarantining in a Perth hotel on returning to WA.
But premier Mark McGowan says that quarantine period can be served at their regular homes, subject to strict conditions.
The two clubs can train during their quarantine period and are also free to play each other in a western derby.
There’s still a chance Fremantle and West Coast will need to spend an extra week or two in their Gold Coast hub before a similar Perth set-up is established.
Crowds of up to 30,000 will be able to attend games from Saturday at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
There will be no limits by 18 July, meaning up to 60,000 people will be allowed to go to games in Perth.
That is a juicy carrot for the AFL, which has lost millions of dollars through the coronavirus pandemic.
Another passenger on the Ruby Princess has said a doctor onboard took a swab from him and told him “you don’t have coronavirus”, even though they did not have coronavirus testing capacity onboard. Paul Reid, who later tested positive for Covid-19, said he was given the impression he had been tested and “cleared of coronavirus” after his encounter with the ship’s doctor.
Reid fell ill while on the trip. He went to the ship’s medical centre with a sore throat and a fever and raised the possibility he had Covid-19.
He told the NSW special inquiry that a male doctor took a swab from his nose and throat, put the swab “in a mixture”, then “came back five minutes later and told me ‘You don’t have coronavirus, you have the common cold.’”
However, the ship’s own records show Reid was not tested for coronavirus but was tested for influenza A and B. He was negative for both.
Reid said he believed he had been tested and cleared for Covid-19, and he told other passengers and family he was negative. He told the inquiry he wasn’t asked to self-isolate, and he continued to go to the ship’s buffet, though at a later time, to avoid crowds.
When he arrived in Sydney on 19 March, he said, he took an Uber home.