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| Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports 13 new cases and four deaths as pressure mounts over border closures | Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria reports 13 new cases and four deaths as pressure mounts over border closures |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The federal government wants restrictions eased as case numbers drop and budget speculation intensifies. Follow all today’s updates | The federal government wants restrictions eased as case numbers drop and budget speculation intensifies. Follow all today’s updates |
| People of all binaries, it is my pleasure to inform you that the pandemic is apparently over. | |
| It’s not known as the “no actual investment fund” for no good reason – but the $5bn fund which was meant to turn northern Australia into an economic powerhouse (and was one of the Coalition government’s first projects) is about to get another revamp under its latest minister, Keith Pitt. | |
| From the minister’s statement: | |
| Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt said the 2020-21 Budget will include reforms to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) which will provide more flexibility, increased risk appetite and widen the scope of projects eligible for funding. | |
| Minister Pitt said the changes are on top of July’s announcement of a five-year extension to NAIF operations until 30 June 2026. | |
| “The reforms to NAIF will ensure the $5 billion facility will have more flexibility to bankroll investment in a wider range of projects across Northern Australia,” Minister Pitt said. | |
| Scott Morrison said there was work being done on this, which would be announced very soon – but pick for the dole looks like becoming a reality. | |
| As AAP reports: | |
| Unemployed young people could soon be offered extra cash incentives to help with the harvest season. | |
| Backpackers and seasonal workers picking fruit could also be able to extend their visas even further. | |
| Fruit and vegetable farmers will need an extra 26,000 workers to harvest their crops this summer. | |
| They are calling for urgent government interventions to help fill the massive workforce shortfalls caused by coronavirus border closures. | |
| Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has already announced a range of changes aimed at plugging the gaps. | |
| Jobseekers can earn $300 a fortnight without affecting their welfare payments. | |
| Backpackers working on farms can stay with one employer for more than six months and stay in Australia an extra year. | |
| Programs aimed at bringing in Pacific and Timorese workers to fill rural and regional job shortages have reopened. | |
| The prime minister has signalled he will do more to open the seasonal labour schemes and encourage Australians to take up regional jobs. | |
| Mr Littleproud said he was working closely with farmers on additional measures ahead of next week’s federal budget. | |
| “Farmers don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting for workers to turn up and we don’t want fruit rotting on the vine or crops left in the field,” he told AAP on Wednesday. | |
| The Victorian numbers have landed. | |
| And here is the AMA urging the government to be realistic about when a viable vaccine is likely, and to include that in any budget forecasts: | And here is the AMA urging the government to be realistic about when a viable vaccine is likely, and to include that in any budget forecasts: |
| The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, did the Australian media rounds this morning and, obviously, the travel bubble was the main topic of conversation. | |
| But she was also asked by the Seven Network about the hard lockdown she and her government put New Zealand under as they went for eradication of the virus instead of suppression. | |
| Asked if she would do it again, given that it “crushed” the economy, Ardern said: | |
| Overnight the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, acknowledged the grim milestone the world passed yesterday. | |
| Anthony Albanese will deliver his speech to the McKell Institute at 12.30 today. | Anthony Albanese will deliver his speech to the McKell Institute at 12.30 today. |
| Assoc Prof Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious disease expert at ANU, has joined the list of medical experts managing expectations about when a vaccine for Covid-19 is likely to be available. | |
| Senanayake had a chat to the Seven network this morning. He said he believes that won’t be until “at least the middle of next year”: | |
| That comes after the AMA boss, Dr Omar Khorshid, told 7.30 overnight people shouldn’t expect a vaccine next year as it was “really important that we are realistic about the time it takes to get a vaccination through all of the many production issues”. | |
| Khorshid said it would take many months and he wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a viable vaccine until 2022. | |
| AAP has a little more on what Jacinda Ardern is thinking when it comes to travel between New Zealand and Australia (assuming she is still prime minister when it comes to the point of becoming reality – the NZ election is 17 October): | |
| Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Australia could be on the verge of letting New Zealanders enter without the need for a fortnight quarantining in a hotel. | Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Australia could be on the verge of letting New Zealanders enter without the need for a fortnight quarantining in a hotel. |
| Ms Ardern advanced talks on the creation of a trans-Tasman bubble with counterpart Scott Morrison in a phone meeting on Tuesday night. | Ms Ardern advanced talks on the creation of a trans-Tasman bubble with counterpart Scott Morrison in a phone meeting on Tuesday night. |
| “There is a chance that we could have Australia simply open to New Zealand because of our status and where we are right now, which is pretty good,” she told AAP. | “There is a chance that we could have Australia simply open to New Zealand because of our status and where we are right now, which is pretty good,” she told AAP. |
| “They could just say, ‘Well look one way (travel from New Zealand to Australia) is fine by us’ until we work through some of the detail, and it’s a possibility.” | “They could just say, ‘Well look one way (travel from New Zealand to Australia) is fine by us’ until we work through some of the detail, and it’s a possibility.” |
| The NZ Labour leader, overseeing a COVID-19 elimination strategy, has established a series of criteria that must be met before opening borders to other nations. | The NZ Labour leader, overseeing a COVID-19 elimination strategy, has established a series of criteria that must be met before opening borders to other nations. |
| That means New Zealand reciprocating and allowing Australians in for quarantine-free travel is a little further away. | That means New Zealand reciprocating and allowing Australians in for quarantine-free travel is a little further away. |
| The Victorian outbreak led to an impasse in trans-Tasman bubble talks with Australia, though Ms Ardern says Mr Morrison’s embrace of a “hotspot” system would allow travel to resume sooner. | The Victorian outbreak led to an impasse in trans-Tasman bubble talks with Australia, though Ms Ardern says Mr Morrison’s embrace of a “hotspot” system would allow travel to resume sooner. |
| “Essentially what a hotspot system would do, it would shut down those areas where there were heightened cases, while allowing the rest to be open. And so absolutely, we can also make that work,” she told AAP. | “Essentially what a hotspot system would do, it would shut down those areas where there were heightened cases, while allowing the rest to be open. And so absolutely, we can also make that work,” she told AAP. |
| “What we just need to hear a bit more from Australia on is what the definition of a hotspot will be, how they’ll manage the state borders in those situations, but we’re working that through.” | “What we just need to hear a bit more from Australia on is what the definition of a hotspot will be, how they’ll manage the state borders in those situations, but we’re working that through.” |
| Ms Ardern said opening up to Pacific nations – beginning with the Cook Islands – was “absolutely” still part of New Zealand’s re-engagement with the world. | |
| “The threshold that we’ll set will meet the Cooks’ expectations,” she said. | “The threshold that we’ll set will meet the Cooks’ expectations,” she said. |
| On Tuesday, Mr Morrison said people flying into Australia from overseas could soon be allowed to quarantine at home, asking officials to look into the proposal. | On Tuesday, Mr Morrison said people flying into Australia from overseas could soon be allowed to quarantine at home, asking officials to look into the proposal. |
| Ms Ardern said New Zealand was unlikely to follow suit, saying “quarantine-free travel is our version of that”. | Ms Ardern said New Zealand was unlikely to follow suit, saying “quarantine-free travel is our version of that”. |
| “I do think there’s something to be said at looking at the other end, thinking about whether or not for high-risk countries we need to have, an additional element of extra self-isolation,” she said. | “I do think there’s something to be said at looking at the other end, thinking about whether or not for high-risk countries we need to have, an additional element of extra self-isolation,” she said. |
| Welcome to day 274 of 2020, and the last day of September. As far as we know. The clock could hit 23:60 on New Year’s Eve, and we could just end up doing this whole year again – none of us would be surprised. | Welcome to day 274 of 2020, and the last day of September. As far as we know. The clock could hit 23:60 on New Year’s Eve, and we could just end up doing this whole year again – none of us would be surprised. |
| With case numbers starting to drop, the federal government is once again putting pressure on Victoria to open up Melbourne but, at this stage, Daniel Andrews is staying firm. Last time Victoria eased restrictions there was still community transmission occurring and we know how quickly that jumped out of control. So the cautious response is understandable. But as the days tick by, the ceasefire between the two governments seems increasingly shaky. | With case numbers starting to drop, the federal government is once again putting pressure on Victoria to open up Melbourne but, at this stage, Daniel Andrews is staying firm. Last time Victoria eased restrictions there was still community transmission occurring and we know how quickly that jumped out of control. So the cautious response is understandable. But as the days tick by, the ceasefire between the two governments seems increasingly shaky. |
| In Queensland it is all about the election, which is now just a month away. Covid has become almost a side issue in the sunshine state – the closed borders means there have been no community transmissions for more than two weeks, although federal government MPs are also demanding those borders come down too. Northern NSW residents can enter Queensland from tomorrow but, with the Northern Territory and South Australia also welcoming Sydney and surrounds, pressure is increasing on the Queensland government to open up again Even Mark McGowan, who leads the state with the hardest border closure in the land at the moment, felt some of the pressure – he announced that from next Monday, people travelling to Western Australia from Victoria won’t have to pay for hotel quarantine if they can complete 14 days of self-isolation in a “suitable premises” – like a house. That means a lot of people can go home for longed-for visits. NSW residents will also be treated the same as other visitors to WA – a Covid test on day 11 but entry won’t be so difficult to obtain. | In Queensland it is all about the election, which is now just a month away. Covid has become almost a side issue in the sunshine state – the closed borders means there have been no community transmissions for more than two weeks, although federal government MPs are also demanding those borders come down too. Northern NSW residents can enter Queensland from tomorrow but, with the Northern Territory and South Australia also welcoming Sydney and surrounds, pressure is increasing on the Queensland government to open up again Even Mark McGowan, who leads the state with the hardest border closure in the land at the moment, felt some of the pressure – he announced that from next Monday, people travelling to Western Australia from Victoria won’t have to pay for hotel quarantine if they can complete 14 days of self-isolation in a “suitable premises” – like a house. That means a lot of people can go home for longed-for visits. NSW residents will also be treated the same as other visitors to WA – a Covid test on day 11 but entry won’t be so difficult to obtain. |
| NSW, often held up as the “gold standard” by the prime minister in terms of dealing with Covid, has gone four days without community transmission but authorities are worried about low testing rates. For the second day in a row, numbers were hovering at the lower end of the 8,000s, which, for Australia’s biggest state, is not great. There is still some risk of community transmission there, and, so far, its success in opening the economy and dealing with the virus has rested on catching any outbreaks before they take hold. But there seems to be some testing fatigue, which puts pressure on the system to keep up with the potential of an outbreak. Federally, it is all about the budget, which yesterday Scott Morrison called the most important in a generation. That will be handed down on Tuesday but, the at the moment, most people are just looking for some reassurance there will be some big spending and ideas to help navigate the absolute shitstorm which is headed our way. The cuts to jobkeeper and jobseeker already have people worried – and the prime minister’s comment yesterday – “We’ve got to keep moving forward. We need to keep leaning into the next step to see our economy strengthen and not have it held back by keeping support measures in place for too long” – hasn’t done a lot to allay those fears. | NSW, often held up as the “gold standard” by the prime minister in terms of dealing with Covid, has gone four days without community transmission but authorities are worried about low testing rates. For the second day in a row, numbers were hovering at the lower end of the 8,000s, which, for Australia’s biggest state, is not great. There is still some risk of community transmission there, and, so far, its success in opening the economy and dealing with the virus has rested on catching any outbreaks before they take hold. But there seems to be some testing fatigue, which puts pressure on the system to keep up with the potential of an outbreak. Federally, it is all about the budget, which yesterday Scott Morrison called the most important in a generation. That will be handed down on Tuesday but, the at the moment, most people are just looking for some reassurance there will be some big spending and ideas to help navigate the absolute shitstorm which is headed our way. The cuts to jobkeeper and jobseeker already have people worried – and the prime minister’s comment yesterday – “We’ve got to keep moving forward. We need to keep leaning into the next step to see our economy strengthen and not have it held back by keeping support measures in place for too long” – hasn’t done a lot to allay those fears. |
| Anthony Albanese will give a speech today laying out what Labor thinks needs to happen, as well as increase his criticisms of Morrison. | Anthony Albanese will give a speech today laying out what Labor thinks needs to happen, as well as increase his criticisms of Morrison. |
| Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern has been having a chat on the Nine Network about the travel bubble – she says negotiations have shifted to “hotspot regimes” which she seems a little sceptical of, so stay tuned there. | Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern has been having a chat on the Nine Network about the travel bubble – she says negotiations have shifted to “hotspot regimes” which she seems a little sceptical of, so stay tuned there. |
| We will cover all of the news, in terms of Covid and federal politics (with a few bits and pieces from elsewhere) as it happens. You have Amy Remeikis at the helm for the day. | We will cover all of the news, in terms of Covid and federal politics (with a few bits and pieces from elsewhere) as it happens. You have Amy Remeikis at the helm for the day. |
| Ready? | Ready? |