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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 278 Covid cases and eight deaths as one death and 12 cases recorded in NSW Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 278 Covid cases and eight deaths as one death and 12 cases recorded in NSW
(32 minutes later)
NSW authorities are concerned about a number of Covid-19 cases in the past six weeks where the source was unknown. Follow liveNSW authorities are concerned about a number of Covid-19 cases in the past six weeks where the source was unknown. Follow live
Unions are calling for the government to legislate pandemic leave, after the Cadbury decision:
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union is disappointed by today’s high court decision in the matter of Cadbury-Mondelez v AMWU.
The decision means that Australian shift workers are entitled to fewer than 10 days’ personal leave each year.
“While we respect the decision of the high court, this is a obviously a very disappointing outcome for us and for the delegates, Natasha and Brendon, who have been fighting for their personal leave entitlements through the courts for years now”, the AMWU’s Tasmania state secretary, John Short, said.
The high court’s decision comes after the full court of the federal court ruled in August last year that for the purposes of calculating personal leave entitlements, a day was “the period of time in a 24-hour period that would otherwise be allocated to work”.
The decision has implications for workers working ordinary days of more than the standard 7.6 hours.
“Cadbury workers do 12-hour days making the chocolate that we know and love. This decision means that they will get fewer days of personal leave per year than someone doing an office job working nine to five,” Short said.
“While we are very disappointed in the outcome, we are very proud of our members and delegates who have taken up the fight at every stage. It’s not easy for a food worker to stand up in court against a big company like Cadbury-Mondelez that has got the backing of the federal government, but our members held their ground every step of the way.”
The federal government intervened at every level in support of Cadbury-Mondelez – at the Fair Work Commission, at the federal court, and at the high court.
“We are now calling for the federal government to amend the Fair Work Act so that every worker has access to 10 days of paid personal leave every year, no matter what hours they work,” Short said.
Looks like Scott Morrison won’t be holding a press conference today either - Michaelia Cash will be holding the unemployment press conference.
Prof Peter Collignon is an infectious diseases doctor and a former adviser to the World Health Organisation, and he has some thoughts about the cases in New Zealand.
He said the term “elimination” was problematic when it comes to a novel virus where most people have no immunity.
“I’ve always been concerned when people talk about New Zealand having eliminated the virus,” Collignon, who is advising the Australian government on its Covid response, said.
“While we have all been very hopeful about New Zealand, the fact is that a lot of young people and people in their 20s and 30s may develop the virus and never display symptoms, and so when you have this silent spread occurring it’s only a matter of time before it pops up somewhere again.”
He said the country was wise to use genomic sequencing, which analyses the virus sample taken from a diagnosed patient and compares it with other cases to help health officials understand where the virus may have originated. This was how Victoria identified that the virus had spread from the hotel quarantine program and into returned travellers.
“This data will really help us to understand more about what is going on,” he said.
That number doesn’t take into account the Victorian lockdown.
It also counts those on jobkeeper who don’t have a job to go back to – the so-called “zombie businesses” the wage subsidy is propping up (no shade – this is a pandemic and shiz is hard).
The participation rate is up by 0.6%, but there are still a lot of people who have just dropped out of the figures because they aren’t employed and they aren’t looking for work.
That puts the unemployment rate, unofficially, at 13% or so. Which would more accurately reflect what we’re all seeing.
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected by this. And I doubt you do either.
The ABS has released its labour force figures for July.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted estimate of employment increased by 114,700 people with:
the number of unemployed people increasing by 15,700 people
the unemployment rate increasing by less than 0.1 percentage points to 7.5%
the underemployment rate decreasing by 0.5 pts to 11.2%
the underutilisation rate decreasing by 0.4 pts to 18.7%
the participation rate increasing 0.6 pts to 64.7%
the employment to population ratio increasing 0.5 pts to 59.8%.
Employment increased by 114,700 people (0.9%) between June and July with full-time employment increasing by 43,500 people and part-time employment increasing by 71,200. Compared with a year ago, there were 282,800 fewer people employed full time and 131,700 fewer people employed part time.The employment to population ratio, which is a measure of how employed the population (15 and over) is, increased by 0.5 pts to 59.8%.
There are now 13 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.There are now 13 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.
That’s four more than Queensland.That’s four more than Queensland.
As we wait for the ABS labour force statistics (due in less than 10 minutes) this is some pretty big news for much of the workforce:As we wait for the ABS labour force statistics (due in less than 10 minutes) this is some pretty big news for much of the workforce:
New Zealand’s version of a chief medical officer, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says authorities still have no idea where the virus re-emerged from.New Zealand’s version of a chief medical officer, Dr Ashley Bloomfield says authorities still have no idea where the virus re-emerged from.
Just five of those 12 cases have come from hotel quarantine.Just five of those 12 cases have come from hotel quarantine.
That’s down from the 18 which were recorded yesterday.That’s down from the 18 which were recorded yesterday.
One woman, who had been in intensive care, has died.One woman, who had been in intensive care, has died.
New Zealand has gone from no cases to nine in just a day.New Zealand has gone from no cases to nine in just a day.
Couldn’t he have just tried Windex?
Clive Palmer is still finding ways to make everything in Australia all about him.
The peak Victorian authority for safety improvement in healthcare is still examining how almost 1,600 healthcare workers acquired Covid, calling into question claims from the premier, Daniel Andrews, and health minister, Jenny Mikakos, that most workers were infected in the community.
An email sent to health workers by the chief medical officer of Safer Care Victoria, Prof Andrew Wilson, says as of 8 August 1,835 healthcare workers had been infected. The figure includes healthcare workers with active infections and those who have recovered.
Of those infected, 50 were confirmed to have acquired the virus in a healthcare setting, Wilson said, including 12 doctors, 29 nurses and nine health practitioners such as paramedics and allied health workers.
Wilson, who also chairs the Victoria PPE [personal protective equipment] taskforce, said in an email: “Healthcare acquisition remains under investigation for 1,598 healthcare workers.”
The figures included all data to 8 August.
It calls into question statements from Mikakos before the parliamentary inquiry into the Victorian government’s response to Covid-19 that up to 15% of those with active infections had been infected at work. The source of many cases are still under investigation.
Read more:
Meanwhile, talking about the parliament sitting which is coming up on 24 August, there are still questions over what the Queensland MPs will have to do when they return.
Queensland has declared the ACT a Covid-hotspot and banned ACT residents from entering.
The ACT has no cases, but there was a suggestion that NSW residents were using the Canberra airport to avoid the earlier border shutdown to those from greater Sydney.
So, at this stage, it looks like Queensland federal MPs will have to quarantine on their return – which means either hotel quarantine at their own expense (about $2,800) or locking down their entire family with them in their home for two weeks.
Same for staff.
So it’s not just Victorian MPs that will have a tricky time of it.
The NSW transport minister, Andrew Constance, says if people don’t start wearing masks as a general rule on public transport, it will be mandated:
Andrew Leigh had a chat about this story from Christopher Knaus with ABC radio earlier this morning.
Liberal Nationals MP David Limbrick questioned the transport minister on whether the government considered shutting public transport after curfew and supplying essential workers with vouchers for private transport.
Jacinta Allan suggested this wouldn’t save a huge amount of money.
Allan:
We had fireworks to celebrate the end of 2019. I’m just saying.
But yes, it it has been “a pretty shitty 2020”, Stuart Ayres.
You can find all the international Covid news here, with Helen Sullivan
The transport minister, Jacinta Allan, is asked by Nationals MP Danny O’Brien to name which minister was “ultimately responsible for the hotel quarantine program”.
Allan:
Mr O’Brien, you and your colleagues have canvassed this on multiple occasions during the course of this week. You will know that I have nothing to add to the comments that have been made already over the course of this week on that matter ...
O’Brien:
“It’s a pretty simple question – which minister was responsible – and yet no minister wants to say who it was, or seems to be able to say.
“Earlier you said you were ‘very clear on your roles and responsibilities as a minister and the accountabilities that go with that’. So you were very clear on yours, that’s fine. I’m just trying to find out who was responsible for what?”
Allan has previously said her role in the quarantine program was to organise transport of returned travellers to the hotels using the private transport company SkyBus.