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| Coronavirus update Australia: parliament resumes as Victoria records 116 new cases and 15 deaths – question time live | Coronavirus update Australia: parliament resumes as Victoria records 116 new cases and 15 deaths – question time live |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Brisbane watches hotspots after youth detention centre outbreak, Victoria’s hotel inquiry continues and politicians gather in Canberra for the first time in 10 weeks. Follow today’s latest updates | Brisbane watches hotspots after youth detention centre outbreak, Victoria’s hotel inquiry continues and politicians gather in Canberra for the first time in 10 weeks. Follow today’s latest updates |
| Victoria Health has put out its data for the day: | |
| In Victoria at the current time: | |
| 4028 cases may indicate community transmission | |
| 3731 cases are currently active in Victoria | |
| 629 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, including 31 in intensive care | |
| 14,077 people have recovered from the virus | |
| A total of 2,106,139 test results have been received which is an increase of 14,811 since yesterday. | |
| Of the 3,731 current active cases in Victoria: | |
| 3332 are in metropolitan Melbourne under stage 4 restrictions | |
| 232 are in regional local government areas under stage 3 restrictions | |
| 158 are either unknown or subject to further investigation | |
| 9 are interstate residents | |
| Greater Geelong has 88 active cases, Bendigo has 24 active cases and Ballarat has six active cases | |
| Of the total cases: | |
| 16,744 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1104 are from regional Victoria | |
| Total cases include 8776 men and 9511 women | |
| Total number of healthcare workers: 2744 active cases: 476 | |
| There are 1568 active cases relating to aged care facilities | |
| Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers are as follows: | |
| 211 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping | |
| 195 cases have been linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner | |
| 160 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee | |
| 159 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer | |
| 138 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth | |
| 119 cases have been linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North | |
| 118 cases have been linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir | |
| 114 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North | |
| 110 cases have been linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury | |
| 109 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg | |
| In Victoria there are currently 57 active cases in residential disability accommodation: | |
| Total resident cases: 13; Total Staff cases: 44 | |
| Active cases in NDIS homes: 42 (13 residents) | |
| Active cases in ‘transfer’ homes (State regulated/funded): 15 (0 residents) | |
| Active cases in state government delivered and funded homes: 0 | |
| Key outbreaks with new cases include: | |
| 54 cases have been linked to Peninsula Health | |
| 31 cases have been linked to the Vawdrey Australia in Dandenong South | |
| The Department is also investigating cases linked to the Melbourne Safe Injecting Room and the Best Western in Melbourne. | |
| Jim Chalmers is on Patricia Karvelas’s Afternoon Briefing on the aged care response: | |
| The attorney general, Christian Porter, has just released the jobkeeper bill, which sets out what industrial relations powers employers claiming jobkeeper will have from late September until March 2021. He will introduce the bill on Wednesday. | |
| Existing employer powers to reduce hours, adjust workers’ duties and location of work will continue for those still claiming jobkeeper. | |
| Employers who previously claimed jobkeeper but no longer qualify (legacy employers) will be subject to a new turnover test - so if they can show a 10% decline in relevant quarters this year, they will also keep the industrial relations flexibilities. | |
| This addresses Labor’s complaint that companies which have returned to the same level of revenue as last year could nevertheless cut workers’ hours. | |
| There are some protections on this, legacy employers cannot reduce a worker’s hours below 60% of their ordinary hours, must give workers 7 days’ notice of changes and can’t ask them to work less than two hours a day. | |
| Another significant change: The previous arrangements allowing employers, by agreement with staff, to use available leave (subject to having two weeks’ annual leave remaining) will not be a feature of the reforms for JobKeeper 2.0.Porter said: | |
| “Whilst most of the country is moving out of the economic impacts of COVID, Victoria being the obvious exception, we are far from a situation where it is back to normal for many businesses and industries. Indeed, COVID will remain a part of our lives until a vaccine is widely available and so, continuing flexibility to help businesses and their staff adapt to the new normal is critical. | |
| “It is important that the flexibility which has allowed many businesses to survive the crisis to date, continue to be provided to businesses which are on the road to recovery but which haven’t made it out yet, to ensure they can continue to trade, keep people in jobs and continue to rebuild as we emerge from the pandemic. | |
| “A 10 per cent threshold for businesses that were on JobKeeper, but which will no longer qualify for the wages subsidy, will mean they can continue to adapt their workplaces to keep operating in the post-COVID world. | |
| “These changes are time-limited. They are not permanent changes. They are linked to the extension of JobKeeper until the end of March 2021. | |
| “I would like to thank all the stakeholders that have been engaged in detailed and constructive discussions on this legislation over recent weeks. The collaborative efforts of employer groups, unions and the Coalition government are all centred on ensuring we keep as many businesses going and people in jobs.” | |
| Over in the Senate, Kristina Keneally has given a speech in response to Richard Colbeck’s answers on aged care: | |
| Deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth says he was unaware of Terri Butler getting a Covid test, but doesn’t go into what a positive result (which in this case, would be an outside chance as Butler has no symptoms and is just getting tested to be cautious) would mean for the parliament: | |
| So overall, there have been 121 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in Australia in the last 24 hours. | |
| Scott Morrison makes a point of saying he extended question time by 25 minutes, but now would like to call an end to question time. | |
| Question time was extended because he asked to do a speech at the beginning of it (which Anthony Albanese then followed) not because he suddenly decided to do another 25 minutes out of his enduring love of democracy. | |
| Scott Morrison is asked to explain his comments from last week, which sought to put responsibility back on the states for aged care (in Victoria): | |
| (There were outbreaks in NSW aged care centres before Victoria) | (There were outbreaks in NSW aged care centres before Victoria) |
| Julie Collins to Scott Morrison: | Julie Collins to Scott Morrison: |
| Can the prime minister confirm the government’s own report into Covid-19 are back at Dorothy Henderson Lodge show that even well managed providers need help to provide a response on day one and Kenny confirm he received this report in April but was kept secret until the royal commission published this month and why didn’t his government do the things it was told was necessary to keep aged care residents safe? | Can the prime minister confirm the government’s own report into Covid-19 are back at Dorothy Henderson Lodge show that even well managed providers need help to provide a response on day one and Kenny confirm he received this report in April but was kept secret until the royal commission published this month and why didn’t his government do the things it was told was necessary to keep aged care residents safe? |
| Morrison: | Morrison: |
| Greg Hunt is asked about the government’s Covid vaccine strategy. | Greg Hunt is asked about the government’s Covid vaccine strategy. |
| The strategy appears to be to get one. | The strategy appears to be to get one. |
| The aged care minister has once again fumbled the number of aged care deaths, just an hour after apologising for doing it on Friday. | The aged care minister has once again fumbled the number of aged care deaths, just an hour after apologising for doing it on Friday. |
| “Every single one of those 385… 35… Every one of those 335 deaths is an absolutely, absolute tragedy. Every single one of those deaths is a tragedy.” | “Every single one of those 385… 35… Every one of those 335 deaths is an absolutely, absolute tragedy. Every single one of those deaths is a tragedy.” |
| Susan Templeton to Scott Morrison: | Susan Templeton to Scott Morrison: |
| Why did the prime minister say in July the complete withdrawal of an aged care workforce could not be anticipated or foreshadowed when that is precisely what happened at Dorothy Henderson Lodge in March and Newmarch House in April? | Why did the prime minister say in July the complete withdrawal of an aged care workforce could not be anticipated or foreshadowed when that is precisely what happened at Dorothy Henderson Lodge in March and Newmarch House in April? |
| Morrison: | Morrison: |
| It has taken one interjection during a dixer for Greg Hunt to lose control of the carefully curated ‘quiet, statesman like, we will fight them on the beaches, Covid-calm’ voice he has been deploying in press conferences lately. | It has taken one interjection during a dixer for Greg Hunt to lose control of the carefully curated ‘quiet, statesman like, we will fight them on the beaches, Covid-calm’ voice he has been deploying in press conferences lately. |
| Nature is healing. | Nature is healing. |
| Julie Collins to Scott Morrison: | Julie Collins to Scott Morrison: |
| Why did the prime minister wait until now, six months into the pandemic, after hundreds of aged care residents have died, to announce the aged care advisory group. | Why did the prime minister wait until now, six months into the pandemic, after hundreds of aged care residents have died, to announce the aged care advisory group. |
| Morrison: | Morrison: |
| So there are arrangements and plans and plans and arrangements and it is so, because arrangements and plans have been mentioned as words. | So there are arrangements and plans and plans and arrangements and it is so, because arrangements and plans have been mentioned as words. |
| Simples. | Simples. |
| Just as a reminder – it was the Howard government which privatised aged care. | Just as a reminder – it was the Howard government which privatised aged care. |
| Bronwyn Bishop was the minister when the kerosene baths scandal broke. | Bronwyn Bishop was the minister when the kerosene baths scandal broke. |
| Ken Wyatt was the minister when the Oakden scandal broke. | Ken Wyatt was the minister when the Oakden scandal broke. |
| Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison: | Anthony Albanese to Scott Morrison: |
| The commissioners presiding over the Aged Care Royal Commission said today, quote, “Had the Australian government acted upon previous reviews of aged care, the persistent problems would have been known much earlier and the suffering of so many people could’ve been avoided.” Are the commissioners correct, what Australians are seeing the aged care could’ve been avoided, why didn’t the government and you act? | The commissioners presiding over the Aged Care Royal Commission said today, quote, “Had the Australian government acted upon previous reviews of aged care, the persistent problems would have been known much earlier and the suffering of so many people could’ve been avoided.” Are the commissioners correct, what Australians are seeing the aged care could’ve been avoided, why didn’t the government and you act? |
| Morrison: | Morrison: |
| Michael McCormack is at the despatch box, which is making me rethink every plan that has ever led to me standing here, in this moment, and where it all went wrong. | Michael McCormack is at the despatch box, which is making me rethink every plan that has ever led to me standing here, in this moment, and where it all went wrong. |
| You know, it is possible to repeatedly say the word ‘plan’ (eight times in those few minutes at my rough count) – and even have a document with the word ‘plan’ on it, and there still not actually be a plan. | You know, it is possible to repeatedly say the word ‘plan’ (eight times in those few minutes at my rough count) – and even have a document with the word ‘plan’ on it, and there still not actually be a plan. |
| For example, I had a plan to marry rich and retire by the time I was 30. That did not happen. It was written down and everything. Under the headline ‘life plan’ and yet – here I am. Blogging question time. | For example, I had a plan to marry rich and retire by the time I was 30. That did not happen. It was written down and everything. Under the headline ‘life plan’ and yet – here I am. Blogging question time. |