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| Coronavirus Australia latest updates: NSW hunts for security guard contacts, fearing repeat of Victorian outbreak – live news | Coronavirus Australia latest updates: NSW hunts for security guard contacts, fearing repeat of Victorian outbreak – live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| State’s chief health officer Kerry Chant says the guard worked at Sydney’s Flemington Markets and Parramatta Local Court while infectious | State’s chief health officer Kerry Chant says the guard worked at Sydney’s Flemington Markets and Parramatta Local Court while infectious |
| Oh look - it seems like some money is being released for the arts and entertainment industry. | |
| From Paul Fletcher: | |
| Screen producers can now access the $50 million Temporary Interruption Fund (TIF), which opens today to help kick-start the local film and television industry. | |
| Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts the Hon. Paul Fletcher MP, said TIF will support local film and television producers to start filming again. At the moment many new productions are in limbo because financiers will not release funds because of their concern that production may be interrupted if a key cast or crew member falls ill due to COVID-19. | |
| “If a production is designated by Screen Australia as eligible under TIF this will allow financiers to release funds so production can commence,” Minister Fletcher said. | |
| Honestly, it is still as flabbergasting the third time around. | |
| Queensland and NSW are having a spat after Annastacia Palaszczuk said “we have Queensland hospitals for our people” as the border closure continues to impact people who live in the Tweed and northern NSW. | |
| Obviously part of NSW, the Gold Coast and Brisbane across the border are the major centres for those Tweed and northern NSW communities. | |
| So the border closure is presenting some major issues. | |
| Palaszczuk is about to fight an election. So she has ramped up the rhetoric. The ABC reports her as saying “In Queensland, we have Queensland hospitals for our people”, which has “astonished” NSW health minister Brad Hazzard . | |
| He has responded by releasing figures on how many Queenslanders have sought treatment at the Tweed hospital - about 6000 in the last year. | |
| It would probably be easier for everyone to calm their farms, let medical professionals talk to each other, and use some common sense, but we are at the political end of this stuff, so that is probably just a pipe dream. | |
| Once again, in case you missed it, this was Scott Morrison’s answer, when asked if the buck stopped with him, when it came to failings in aged care during this pandemic. | |
| Translation - the federal government regulates it, but in a health pandemic, those are things for the states. | |
| Cool. | |
| Over in Queensland, and authorities are waiting on the results of a fourth Covid test for a resident at Immanuel Gardens in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, an aged care home operated by Lutheran Services. | |
| Three other residents who were displaying respiratory symptoms returned a negative test yesterday. | |
| The fourth resident was tested later, after displaying symptoms of their own. | |
| All four people were immediately put into isolation and the centre was shut down, and hopefully we all see a fourth negative test there soon. | |
| There are still thousands of Australians overseas who are trying to fly home. | |
| That got really complicated in the last few months. Not only are arrivals into Australia capped, and individuals responsible for their own hotel quarantine costs, actually getting on a flight is a problem as well. | |
| Elias Visontay has been following that saga - here is his latest: | |
| So that would be a no then. | So that would be a no then. |
| Just as the ‘apology’ was for failings in ‘the’ system, which is a piece of verbal distancing, that answer put the responsibility back with Victoria. | Just as the ‘apology’ was for failings in ‘the’ system, which is a piece of verbal distancing, that answer put the responsibility back with Victoria. |
| Apparently, there is nothing to be done when there is pandemic. Except there is, and there could be, and we just see responsibility passed around like a bag of chips. | Apparently, there is nothing to be done when there is pandemic. Except there is, and there could be, and we just see responsibility passed around like a bag of chips. |
| We are motoring through the issues in this interview. | We are motoring through the issues in this interview. |
| Next up - ultimate responsibility for stuff ups. | Next up - ultimate responsibility for stuff ups. |
| Michael Rowland: Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, says the buck stops with him when it comes to the hotel quarantine bungle. Does the buck stop with you as Prime Minister for the litany of aged care failures? | Michael Rowland: Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, says the buck stops with him when it comes to the hotel quarantine bungle. Does the buck stop with you as Prime Minister for the litany of aged care failures? |
| Scott Morrison: Well, there are shared responsibilities for public health which is a matter there. | Scott Morrison: Well, there are shared responsibilities for public health which is a matter there. |
| Rowland: It’s a federal responsibility. | Rowland: It’s a federal responsibility. |
| Morrison: | Morrison: |
| Then there is a small serve to premiers’ who have closed their borders. (Not all the premiers though, as you can guess.) | Then there is a small serve to premiers’ who have closed their borders. (Not all the premiers though, as you can guess.) |
| Scott Morrison: | Scott Morrison: |
| What is Plan B for Australia, while we wait for a vaccine, Scott Morrison is asked: | What is Plan B for Australia, while we wait for a vaccine, Scott Morrison is asked: |
| Scott Morrison, chatting to the ABC, says the vaccine deal “will give us the option to be at the front of the pack and to be able to manufacture the vaccine here and make it available to all Australians” | Scott Morrison, chatting to the ABC, says the vaccine deal “will give us the option to be at the front of the pack and to be able to manufacture the vaccine here and make it available to all Australians” |
| In case you missed it yesterday, the government has confirmed that for the first time in 25 years, there will be no indexation for the pension until March 2021. Meaning - no pension increase. | In case you missed it yesterday, the government has confirmed that for the first time in 25 years, there will be no indexation for the pension until March 2021. Meaning - no pension increase. |
| It’s not just the pension, a lot of other payments, including the Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment and JobSeeker Payment, won’t be seeing increases either. | It’s not just the pension, a lot of other payments, including the Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment and JobSeeker Payment, won’t be seeing increases either. |
| The news comes among record unemployment within Australia. And people withdrawing money out of their super funds. | The news comes among record unemployment within Australia. And people withdrawing money out of their super funds. |
| Linda Burney from Labor had a bit to say about it this morning: | Linda Burney from Labor had a bit to say about it this morning: |
| It’s good news to start off with this morning, with the government announcing it has reached an agreement with the British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to supply Australians with the University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine for free – assuming it clears clinical trials. | It’s good news to start off with this morning, with the government announcing it has reached an agreement with the British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to supply Australians with the University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine for free – assuming it clears clinical trials. |
| As Katharine Murphy reports: | As Katharine Murphy reports: |
| So still some time away, but a silver lining. The government then has to work out who gets it first - at this point, it is the most vulnerable, so people over 65 will be among the first on the list. | So still some time away, but a silver lining. The government then has to work out who gets it first - at this point, it is the most vulnerable, so people over 65 will be among the first on the list. |
| Closer to home, and NSW authorities are urgently trying to work out how a security guard at a health hotel at Circular Quay was infected with Covid-19. | Closer to home, and NSW authorities are urgently trying to work out how a security guard at a health hotel at Circular Quay was infected with Covid-19. |
| Late yesterday afternoon, NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, announced genomic testing on the guard’s infection showed it was similar to “one identified in a guest staying at the hotel from 31 July to 5 August”. | Late yesterday afternoon, NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, announced genomic testing on the guard’s infection showed it was similar to “one identified in a guest staying at the hotel from 31 July to 5 August”. |
| As NSW Health reports: | As NSW Health reports: |
| That’s the two major stories today. We’ll keep you updated on everything that happens. The prime minister will be doing the rounds this morning - having a vaccine announcement tends to kickstart the media circuit - so we will bring you that, and anything else you need to know. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day. | That’s the two major stories today. We’ll keep you updated on everything that happens. The prime minister will be doing the rounds this morning - having a vaccine announcement tends to kickstart the media circuit - so we will bring you that, and anything else you need to know. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day. |
| Ready? | Ready? |