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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 42 new Covid cases and no deaths – latest news
Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 42 new Covid cases and no deaths – latest news
(32 minutes later)
SA may open border to NSW, as regional Victoria waits on Dan Andrews and WA adds to pressure for federal quarantine. Follow all today’s news
SA may open border to NSW, as regional Victoria waits on Dan Andrews and WA adds to pressure for federal quarantine. Follow all today’s news
Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference at 10.45.
Or, as Murph says:
Scott Morrison has just got to the nub of his speech - and his government’s plan:
Further to Matilda’s earlier post
Scott Morrison is in Newcastle, delivering his gas speech.
Murph has covered the announcement here:
Morrison:
One of the police officers involved in a controversial arrest in Melbourne on Sunday has been suspended.
Videos posted to social media show a man was hit by a police car and appears to have his head stomped on by an officer while held down.
The man was taken to hospital on Sunday afternoon and placed in an induced coma.
The man’s father said his son was suffering from a bipolar episode and was hospitalised immediately prior to the incident.
A spokesperson from Victoria police confirmed a “senior constable from the Critical Incident Response Team was last night suspended following his involvement in a protracted incident”.
“Professional Standards Command continue to investigate the matter and are currently assessing all available information.”
Police did not name the officer or confirm if this was the person responsible for hitting the man with a vehicle, allegedly stomping on his head or both.
Guardian Australia has requested clarification to as whether the officer has been suspended with or with out pay.
Multiple civil rights groups in Victoria have called for the independent anti-corruption watchdog, Ibac, to investigate the arrest.
Regional Victoria is looking very good.
Daniel Andrews will hold his press conference at 10.45am.
The Covid committee is meeting today, with today’s hearing focusing on mental health.
The Covid committee is meeting today, with today’s hearing focusing on mental health.
Beyond Blue, the Black Dog Institute, Mental Health Australia and the National Mental Health Commission will all appear.
Beyond Blue, the Black Dog Institute, Mental Health Australia and the National Mental Health Commission will all appear.
You can follow along, here
You can follow along, here
Oh I don’t know, I’m sure there are reasons.
Oh I don’t know, I’m sure there are reasons.
Like no one with any sense or idea of where the market is heading, or caring about our planet, thinking it is a good idea?
Like no one with any sense or idea of where the market is heading, or caring about our planet, thinking it is a good idea?
Ambulance Victoria have put together a thank you video for the Victorian community.
Ambulance Victoria have put together a thank you video for the Victorian community.
From the bushfires, to the pandemic and everything in between, it really hits you with just how shit this year has been. But it also does a lovely job of showing the slivers of light in between.
From the bushfires, to the pandemic and everything in between, it really hits you with just how shit this year has been. But it also does a lovely job of showing the slivers of light in between.
It’s no Tayne, but the message is one worth hearing*
It’s no Tayne, but the message is one worth hearing*
*lady who coughed on me over the avocados, I am talking to you.
*lady who coughed on me over the avocados, I am talking to you.
Queensland has reported one new case of Covid – but they are in hotel quarantine.
Queensland has reported one new case of Covid – but they are in hotel quarantine.
The international covid blog is up and running
Scott Morrison will be talking more on how gas is the future (at least according to his government) at 9.45am.
It’s the first time Victoria has reported a day with no fatalities since 13 July.
This is absolutely fantastic news.
Early reaction:
Remember how the government set up the National Covid-19 Co-ordination Commission, which was going to plot the economic recovery out of Covid? And then put Nev Power in charge, while he was on the board of a gas producer?
And then everything became “gas-led recovery”?
Well, it turns out the government is all “yay, gas-led recovery”.
A Sydney aged care home previously the centre of a large Covid-19 outbreak has confirmed that a resident who was believed to have the virus on Monday was, in fact, a false positive.
A spokesman for Anglicare’s Newmarch House said the resident “originally tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday at Newmarch House is now negative”.
The home has been Covid-19 free since 15 June after the virus ripped through the facility, infecting 37 residents, 34 staff and claiming the lives of 19 people.
“We are all relieved and sincerely appreciate the support received from NSW Health,” the spokesman said. “We are continuing our precautions and retaining our infection control procedures and other protocols for the time being.”
Luke Henriques-Gomes has taken a look at what cutting the coronavirus supplement from the jobseeker payment would mean. As we heard last week, and the week before and the week before that – it’s not good:
Maintaining Australia’s pandemic-boosted welfare payments won’t stop jobseekers from taking up work during the Covid recession, Deloitte Access Economics says.
Instead, cutting the $550-a-fortnight coronavirus supplement would “harm the economic recovery and decrease both GDP and employment across Australia”, the firm said in a new report.
The planned reduction to the supplement in two weeks – before it’s removed entirely after Christmas – would reduce the size of the economy by $31.3bn and cost the equivalent of 145,000 full-time jobs over two years, Deloitte said.
The report, for the Australian Council of Social Service, found the cut would hit hardest in already-disadvantaged remote and regional communities, as well as Covid-ravaged Victoria.
“The economy is in a deep recession, and so reducing government spending would hurt more than if the economy were in good shape,” the report said.
Chinese customs officials have increased screening of imported Australian wheat and barley amid increasing tensions between the two countries.
Australia’s agriculture minister, David Littleproud, confirmed that the general administration of customs China had issued a notice on 31 August to its officers “outlining heightened inspection of imports of Australian wheat and barley”. The notice made reference to incidents of non-compliance relating to barley.
Littleproud played down the significance of the move in a statement overnight:
The minister said there had been no non-compliance notices issued for Australian imports of wheat since before 2018.Beijing’s decision to increase scrutiny of Australian wheat and barley was made around the same time it suspended a Western Australia-based grains exporter, CBH, over the alleged discovery of “quarantine pests” in shipments to China.
CBH vowed to fight that suspension but Chinese state media aired claims that the souring of the diplomatic relationship had “destroyed the atmosphere for dialogue”.
China had already introduced steep tariffs on all Australian barley exports to China from May onwards, which made the trade uneconomic. Beijing has also suspended import permits for some beef processing plants and launched a trade investigation into Australian wine.
There may be some good news coming for regional Victoria very, very soon, if the number of Covid infections outside of Melbourne continue to fall.
Health authorities want a couple more days of low infections to be sure, but regional Victoria looks likely to be coming out of its restrictions very soon.
The South Australian transition committee is meeting today – it is working on whether or not to allow NSW and the ACT across its borders. The premier, Steven Marshall, has been hinting that it will be coming, but all he said yesterday is that everyone would receive plenty of warning.
Meanwhile, the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said her government would reassess the border closures at the end of the month, as already stated, but she was prepared to lose the upcoming election, if it came to that – she said she won’t be shifted from following the health advice.
The Queensland opposition did some walking back of their criticism of the chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, yesterday – the LNP deputy leader, Tim Mander, had called her “power hungry” but the party leader, Deb Frecklington, said the opposition respected the CHO. Young now needs police protection, after receiving death threats.
And pressure is mounting on the federal government to do something to get more Australians stranded overseas home. Only about 4,000 arrivals a week are being accepted. The federal government blames the states because they have put caps on the number of arrivals they are willing to accept each week. Victoria pulled out once its second wave hit (due to failures in its hotel quarantine system) and NSW wants the other states to do more (it means Queensland). But the federal opposition wants the federal government to start using some of the facilities it has available to ensure that more people can be quarantined.
We’ll cover all those issues and more as the day rolls on and we enter our third decade of 2020. You have Amy Remeikis with you for most of the day.
