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| Coronavirus live updates Australia: NSW eases restrictions as Victoria records 12 new Covid cases and two deaths | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos has told the hotel inquiry she had no role in the hiring of private security. Follow live | Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos has told the hotel inquiry she had no role in the hiring of private security. Follow live |
| Meanwhile | |
| Could everyone just take a moment to read Paul’s post there - and take it in? | |
| Remember how Sally McManus took over the Australian Council of Trade Unions and said, in answer to a question, that “I believe in the rule of law when the law is fair and the law is right, but when it’s unjust I don’t think there’s a problem with breaking it.”? | |
| McManus was talking about strike action. | |
| Government MPs lost their collective minds about how there was no excuse for breaking the law, and we all must follow the law of the land. | |
| Now we have the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, the first law officer of the land, shrugging at a federal court judge, who interprets and rules on the law that they he is meant to uphold, and says | |
| ...in response to that judge saying “in the absence of explanation, the minister has engaged in conduct which can only be described as criminal” about a minister of the crown. | |
| Head. Desk. Despair. Repeat. | |
| At a doorstop earlier today, the attorney general Christian Porter has responded to the federal court’s finding that acting immigration minister Alan Tudge unlawfully deprived an asylum seeker of his liberty. | |
| In a scathing judgment, the court said “in the absence of explanation, the minister has engaged in conduct which can only be described as criminal” - but Tudge denies wrongdoing.Porter said: | |
| So, the nation’s first law officer says all is fair if the minister thinks he’s keeping Australians safe? That’s a yikes from me. | |
| Please check the expiry date: | |
| We have spoken a little about the conservative conference Cpac and its speakers on this blog before, so this is a very interesting piece. | |
| It continues: | |
| Q: Isn’t it worse to finance counter-terrorism than be texting while driving? You can say it’s a different type of offence. You know it’s worse to finance child exploitation than text while driving, surely? | |
| Porter: | |
| The transcript of attorney general Christian Porter’s press conference on the Westpac penalty has landed, and I am grateful, as it includes this exchange, which I missed the first time round (I was watching another press conference): | |
| Q: Why should the board police itself? There’s no penalties, no deterrent for any individual who can facilitate these crimes? | |
| Porter: Well that’s a question of law but you’re now talking about no penalties, whilst I’ve just announced to you the single biggest penalty in Australia’s corporate history, $1.3 billion. | |
| Q: But that is $56.52c per breach - around 10c in the dollar for the amount of money that was facilitated offshore? | |
| Porter: Is the suggestion that this penalty is too low? | |
| Q: Well, I get a $1,000 fine if I get pinged with my cell phone while driving. This is $56; 52c if I’m potentially financing terrorism. How does that stack up? | |
| Porter: | |
| Well that’s not the way in which courts view the accumulation of these matters, so there were rules around the accumulation and concurrency of penalties. My view in this was that the original quantums that were being talked about were far too low, but that $1.3 billion represents an appropriate penalty in all of the circumstances. But I can say that simply getting your cell phone and doing the calculation of 23 million breaches divided by the $1.3 billion is not how courts treat these matters as a matter of law – it’s just not, it’s not. | |
| Q: But how does that meet expectations? I mean it’s, sure the penalty should be more for more offences rather than less for more offences? | |
| Porter: Well they are different types of offences. | |
| The Australian Council of Social Service’s chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, has spoken again about what the cut to the unemployment subsidy will mean, when it comes in tomorrow. | |
| From tomorrow, 2 million Australians face losing $300 a fortnight from their already below-the-poverty-level payment of $1,100 a fortnight. That will impact 1 million children. | |
| Dr Goldie said: | |
| I am now considering getting married just to have my friends compete for who gets a dance floor ticket. | I am now considering getting married just to have my friends compete for who gets a dance floor ticket. |
| AAP has more on the easing of restrictions in NSW: | AAP has more on the easing of restrictions in NSW: |
| NSW is easing Covid-19 restrictions around school and community life due to lower community-acquired Covid-19 case numbers. | NSW is easing Covid-19 restrictions around school and community life due to lower community-acquired Covid-19 case numbers. |
| WEDDINGS | WEDDINGS |
| Up to 20 people in the official wedding party can take to the dance floor, where previously only the bride and groom were permitted | Up to 20 people in the official wedding party can take to the dance floor, where previously only the bride and groom were permitted |
| SCHOOLS | SCHOOLS |
| Interschool activities can resume on Saturday with a Covid-19 safety plan | Interschool activities can resume on Saturday with a Covid-19 safety plan |
| School sport will return to normal next term but no parents on school sites | School sport will return to normal next term but no parents on school sites |
| Playing wind instruments, singing and chanting permitted with strict restrictions | Playing wind instruments, singing and chanting permitted with strict restrictions |
| Year 6 formals and graduations permitted | Year 6 formals and graduations permitted |
| High school formals permitted after HSC | High school formals permitted after HSC |
| Kindergarten orientation back on | Kindergarten orientation back on |
| Year 7 transition back on | Year 7 transition back on |
| Excursions and camps can resume with strict guidelines | Excursions and camps can resume with strict guidelines |
| School choirs and musical ensembles to resume, as long as players keep a 1.5-metre distance from one another, or 3 metres for players of non-reeded woodwind instruments. | School choirs and musical ensembles to resume, as long as players keep a 1.5-metre distance from one another, or 3 metres for players of non-reeded woodwind instruments. |
| Community languages schools program will resume face-to-face learning | Community languages schools program will resume face-to-face learning |
| SPORT | SPORT |
| More than one parent may now attend community sporting activities if physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres can be maintained | More than one parent may now attend community sporting activities if physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres can be maintained |
| Accommodation facilities and overnight event organisers must implement a Covid-19 safety plan | Accommodation facilities and overnight event organisers must implement a Covid-19 safety plan |
| Carpooling should continue to be avoided | Carpooling should continue to be avoided |
| I’m sorry to report, parents of NSW, the recorder is now back. | I’m sorry to report, parents of NSW, the recorder is now back. |
| Changes in restriction mean you can now have more than one parent on the sidelines for community sports. | Changes in restriction mean you can now have more than one parent on the sidelines for community sports. |
| Year 7s can have excursions and camps again. | Year 7s can have excursions and camps again. |
| Year 6s can have their formals. | Year 6s can have their formals. |
| Year 12s can have their formals (from 12 November). | Year 12s can have their formals (from 12 November). |
| And interschool activities, such as wind instruments and ensemble, will be allowed again. | And interschool activities, such as wind instruments and ensemble, will be allowed again. |
| The bureau of statistics has also released a more detail look at employment in the last quarter: | The bureau of statistics has also released a more detail look at employment in the last quarter: |
| And who still has jobs? | And who still has jobs? |
| The ABS has taken a look at Australia’s population growth. | The ABS has taken a look at Australia’s population growth. |
| We have increased the population by 1.4% – but not by getting busy – the bulk of the increase came from migrants getting busy and contributing to our economy and prosperity as a nation. | We have increased the population by 1.4% – but not by getting busy – the bulk of the increase came from migrants getting busy and contributing to our economy and prosperity as a nation. |
| Australia’s population was 25,649,985 people at 31 March 2020. | Australia’s population was 25,649,985 people at 31 March 2020. |
| The quarterly growth was 113,900 people (0.4%). | The quarterly growth was 113,900 people (0.4%). |
| The annual growth was 357,000 people (1.4%). | The annual growth was 357,000 people (1.4%). |
| 38.2% of annual growth was due to natural increase, and 61.8% was due to net overseas migration. | 38.2% of annual growth was due to natural increase, and 61.8% was due to net overseas migration. |
| Here is some more on Josh Frydenberg on why budget deficits and debt won’t matter for a while (not that they really ever have) | Here is some more on Josh Frydenberg on why budget deficits and debt won’t matter for a while (not that they really ever have) |
| Australian families stranded overseas are being told by travel agents and airlines that sending their children back to Australian unattended could be a solution to get them home sooner, the senate select committee on Covid-19 has heard. | Australian families stranded overseas are being told by travel agents and airlines that sending their children back to Australian unattended could be a solution to get them home sooner, the senate select committee on Covid-19 has heard. |
| The advice was allegedly given to Deanne Vowels - whose family’s flights home have been repeatedly cancelled since April - as a way of bypassing the impact of Australia’s cap on arrivals. Unaccompanied minors do not count towards an airline’s limit. | The advice was allegedly given to Deanne Vowels - whose family’s flights home have been repeatedly cancelled since April - as a way of bypassing the impact of Australia’s cap on arrivals. Unaccompanied minors do not count towards an airline’s limit. |
| Her family of seven have been stranded in London since March. | Her family of seven have been stranded in London since March. |
| She said the Australian high commission in the UK appeared to be unclear how this exemption worked, and advised her to start up a crowdfunding campaign. | She said the Australian high commission in the UK appeared to be unclear how this exemption worked, and advised her to start up a crowdfunding campaign. |
| Vowels spoke with Guardian Australia in August about how her family of seven has been forced to live in a trailer in London. | Vowels spoke with Guardian Australia in August about how her family of seven has been forced to live in a trailer in London. |
| On Thursday, she also said “we may lose our homes, our jobs and everything due to a single policy”, of capping arrivals into Australia. | On Thursday, she also said “we may lose our homes, our jobs and everything due to a single policy”, of capping arrivals into Australia. |
| She said the government’s response to dealing with stranded Australians “feels like a long term boyfriend cheating on me”, that the government had “dumped me”. | She said the government’s response to dealing with stranded Australians “feels like a long term boyfriend cheating on me”, that the government had “dumped me”. |
| “If you can get high paying actors and politicians and cricket players...and even lobsters in and out of Australia, surely you can get hardworking, good working [citizens] home.” | “If you can get high paying actors and politicians and cricket players...and even lobsters in and out of Australia, surely you can get hardworking, good working [citizens] home.” |
| Josh Frydenberg is giving his speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. | Josh Frydenberg is giving his speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. |
| Looks like Frydenberg is talking about a return to the Keynesian principles which underpinned Menzie’s post war budgets. | Looks like Frydenberg is talking about a return to the Keynesian principles which underpinned Menzie’s post war budgets. |
| Gladys Berejiklian gives a little more clarity over how Sydney will show out this clusterfork of a year: | Gladys Berejiklian gives a little more clarity over how Sydney will show out this clusterfork of a year: |
| Weddings can have up to 20 people in NSW now - on the dance floor. | Weddings can have up to 20 people in NSW now - on the dance floor. |