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Coronavirus Australia latest updates: Victoria reports 216 new cases and 12 deaths as Scott Morrison says vaccine will be mandatory Coronavirus Australia latest updates: Victoria reports 216 new cases and 12 deaths as Scott Morrison says vaccine will be mandatory
(32 minutes later)
‘My view on this is pretty clear and not for turning,’ prime minister says. Follow today’s news live‘My view on this is pretty clear and not for turning,’ prime minister says. Follow today’s news live
Given there have been reports of the impact of the Queensland border closure on NSW people – including heart wrenching stories of parents being separated from their ill newborns, here is a story on a new Queensland mum, stranded in Victoria after cancer treatment, because she can’t get permission to travel through NSW to get back home (where she has been granted an exemption to enter)
The border closures are having a terrible impact on a lot of people. It’s awful and heartbreaking.
Dragging politics into it, to score points or prosecute agendas, is disgusting.
Queensland is working with the Australian Border Force to strengthen its northern border – that would be the ocean – after an increase of Covid cases in Papua New Guinea.
The most recent case of Covid recorded in Queensland today comes from the positive diagnosis of a person who recently returned from PNG (they have been in hotel quarantine), so expect ocean patrols on the northern tip to increase.
Just a reminder that during the bushfire crisis, Scott Morrison also deflected responsibility to the states.
There have been calls for this for some time but the federal government is finally going to start releasing the data on the number of people within the National Disability Insurance Scheme – both participants and workers – who have Covid.
Stuart Robert:
Sabra Lane also asked the prime minister about aged care:
Lane: The aged care royal commission has said that the federal government should be listening to it closely, that you should appoint a dedicated national coordinating body right now to work with all homes to advise them and the government on handling Covid, that you shouldn’t wait. Are you acting on that idea?
Morrison: Well, we already have been. I mean, what we have already in place in Victoria does exactly that, I mean the expertise and experience of geriatricians, to to specialists in diseases and how they transfer in facilities, I mean, that that is the advice we have been taking. And where we need to supplement that, then that will be done. And and that is, they are the things that Professor Murphy and Professor Kelly and his team have been leading now for months.
Lane: Commissioner Pagone, though, said last week that the government could implement this right now, that it was a practical improvement that didn’t need to wait?
Morrison:
Scott Morrison also spoke about his “no jab no play” history with Sabra Lane (although he wasn’t as explicit about it being mandatory).
*Not sure there would be anyone who would admit to not wanting safe vaccines out in the community, but never miss an opportunity to brand yourself, I guess.
For more information on the Oxford vaccine you are hearing a lot about today, you can head here:
As Greg Hunt said on the weekend, and Scott Morrison has said today, it is not the only vaccine being worked on, but it is one of the most promising. Australia will be looking at entering agreements with some of the other vaccine developers as well.
There are about 160 vaccines being worked on around the world, which makes the odds of at least a couple of them being successful pretty good.
Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, echoes her NSW and Victorian counterparts when it comes to flu symptoms:Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, echoes her NSW and Victorian counterparts when it comes to flu symptoms:
The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, has some news on another vaccine now being worked on:The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, has some news on another vaccine now being worked on:
Goondiwindi is also getting some farmer-border passes.Goondiwindi is also getting some farmer-border passes.
Annastacia Palaszczuk:Annastacia Palaszczuk:
Queensland has one new case of Covid – a returned traveller.Queensland has one new case of Covid – a returned traveller.
On the no-doubt swift campaign anti-vaxxers will be whirring up as we speak, Scott Morrison says he is “used to it”.On the no-doubt swift campaign anti-vaxxers will be whirring up as we speak, Scott Morrison says he is “used to it”.
Just a reminder though – while there are promising signs, there is still a wait. First for tests, and then the vaccine has to be rolled out.Just a reminder though – while there are promising signs, there is still a wait. First for tests, and then the vaccine has to be rolled out.
Over on Melbourne radio 3AW, we have learnt something new about the vaccine – Scott Morrison says he expects it to be mandatory:Over on Melbourne radio 3AW, we have learnt something new about the vaccine – Scott Morrison says he expects it to be mandatory:
Remember the jingle for the Reading Writing Hotline? (1300-6-triple-five-oh-six)Remember the jingle for the Reading Writing Hotline? (1300-6-triple-five-oh-six)
It has been overwhelmed with calls for help during the pandemic:It has been overwhelmed with calls for help during the pandemic:
We don’t know how many tests that result is from – yesterday it was about 17,000. Authorities want to get about 25,000 tests done daily to make an adequate judgment.
The Victorian health department has released today’s numbers.
Just in case anyone needed a boost today.
Here was the exchange on the Nine Network over Victoria.
Karl Stefanovic: Victorians, meantime, I mean, they’re tough. They’re get-on-with-it kind of people, but they have been completely, utterly and hopelessly let down. I don’t know whether it’s lies or incompetence, PM, but the government had three months to prepare Victorians for the second wave and didn’t do enough?
Scott Morrison: Well, there clearly have been many issues there on the tracing, on the quarantine, and I think that’s all becoming very clear. But again, Karl, what I have to focus on is the day to day of ensuring we get on top of this, that the numbers we’re seeing coming out of Victoria on cases is improving. Obviously, the number of deaths we’ve seen is very upsetting and disturbing. And again, our sympathies to all of those families affected. But those numbers look like we’re getting on top of it now. Which is welcome. And we’ve got to stay the course. I want to thank all Melburnians, all Victorians, for the sacrifices they are making. It is making a difference. You are getting on top of it. And today there’s hope because as I said, a free vaccine for all Australians, should that AstraZeneca Oxford University trial prove successful.
Q: I’ll get on to that in just a second. But it’s been revealed last night on Nine news, despite having 30 times, 30 times the cases in New South Wales, Victoria has half the number of contact tracers. I mean, how many times do they need to be failed by their leaders?
Morrison: Well, this is one of the reasons why when we sent Commodore Hill down from the defence forces and one of the key things he was doing was to boost the information systems, ensure that there was better tasking of the tracing capabilities, the tracing arrangements in New South Wales have been outstanding. There’ve been industrial-scale, and I think they’ve been a key reason as to why here in New South Wales, the results, under similar pressures with outbreaks, have been very different. But others will get into those differences. But the tracing capabilities – I always said from the outset, test, trace and contain outbreaks and the tools – they were the three things to fight the virus to to ensure that the economy and the community and society could function with the virus present. And that’s as true in Victoria, as it is in Western Australia, or the Northern Territory, other places where there isn’t an outbreak. But if there is, then testing, tracing and outbreak containment is what enables a community to get through, as New South Wales has demonstrated.
(There are about 2,600 contact tracers working in Victoria at the moment.)
Scott Morrison also had a chat to the Nine Network, where he spoke about the terrible case of the Lismore mother who was separated from her newborn when her child had to be airlifted to Queensland for emergency medical treatment.
*Cough mandatory detention for asylum seekers and refugees separating families for years cough*
NSW will hold its press conference at 11am.
After doing all the major breakfast shows, Scott Morrison is headed to AstraZeneca – the British pharmaceutical company the government has signed the Covid vaccine agreement with – for a tour.
Oh look – it seems as though 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.
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” the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard.
He has responded by releasing figures on how many Queenslanders have sought treatment at the Tweed hospital – about 6,000 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.