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Coronavirus Australia live: Victoria, NSW and Queensland record no local Covid cases as three new cases linked to Australian Open Coronavirus Australia live: Victoria, NSW and Queensland record no local Covid cases as three new cases linked to Australian Open
(about 1 hour later)
Two tennis players have tested positive, but hard lockdown of those who shared flights remains. Follow latest updatesTwo tennis players have tested positive, but hard lockdown of those who shared flights remains. Follow latest updates
And that seems to be all from the prime minister.
Morrison is asked about Anthony Albanese’s speech criticising him for his relationship with US president Donald Trump.
He hits back, accusing Labor of using the Australia-US relationship as “a political play thing”.
He says:
Morrison is being asked about the government’s emissions reduction targets for 2030. He says “we are going to meet and beat them” several times.
OK the feed is back.
Morrison is being asked by a reporter why he hasn’t visited a coal mine as prime minister, and whether it’s because he’s worried about implications from people in Sydney and Melbourne.
“Why would I not?,” he says.
He tells us that he “bumped into a bloke just last week” at the Shoalhaven Hotel who works in the mine there.
“We had a good chat about what is happening in the mines there,” he says.
(I’m sorry I have no idea what the context for this is).
Prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking to reporters from rural Queensland.
“No one does mining better than Australians,” he says.
Then the ABC’s feed drops out.
I mean I assume he was going somewhere with that statement but also, where’s the lie?
Earlier today we told you that Labor leader Anthony Albanese had accused the prime minister Scott Morrison of “pandering” to US president Donald Trump in a speech on Wednesday.
The party’s shadow foreign minister Penny Wong has carried on that criticism. In an interview on Sky News today, she described the Trump administration as “unpredictable and tumultuous”, and accused Morrison of putting his “political interests ahead of the stewardship of the relationship” between Australia and the US.
She said:
Morrison has labelled Trump’s comments in the lead up to the Capitol insurrection as “incredibly disappointing”.
On Wednesday he told 2GB Radio it was “really disappointing” the events at the US Capitol had detracted from the Trump administration’s legacy.
Labor’s shadow housing minister, Jason Clare, has addressed the “big jump in the number of Homebuilder applications”, describing it as a “good thing”.Labor’s shadow housing minister, Jason Clare, has addressed the “big jump in the number of Homebuilder applications”, describing it as a “good thing”.
Clare told reporters in Sydney:Clare told reporters in Sydney:
Here’s our full story on the more than 20 refugees who have reportedly been released from detention inside a Melbourne hotel today.Here’s our full story on the more than 20 refugees who have reportedly been released from detention inside a Melbourne hotel today.
A coalition of rights groups says Australia should take a step towards ending the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by raising the age of legal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old.A coalition of rights groups says Australia should take a step towards ending the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by raising the age of legal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old.
The Australian government is set to face questions over the country’s human rights performance tonight (Australian time), as part of the UN human rights council’s universal periodic review process that happens about every five years.The Australian government is set to face questions over the country’s human rights performance tonight (Australian time), as part of the UN human rights council’s universal periodic review process that happens about every five years.
Countries that have submitted questions in advance have raised concerns about rates of Indigenous incarceration, as we reported yesterday. Germany wants to know precisely why Australia has delayed a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years.Countries that have submitted questions in advance have raised concerns about rates of Indigenous incarceration, as we reported yesterday. Germany wants to know precisely why Australia has delayed a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years.
Ahead of tonight’s human rights hearing, the Raise the Age coalition has issued a statement with a range of its members urging Australia to take the rights of children seriously, and to commit to raising the age.Ahead of tonight’s human rights hearing, the Raise the Age coalition has issued a statement with a range of its members urging Australia to take the rights of children seriously, and to commit to raising the age.
Monique Hurley, legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, said children across Australia “should be in schools and playgrounds, not police and prison cells”, while Cheryl Axleby, the co-chair of Change the Record, said the existing policy was “cruel, harmful and out of step with the rest of the world”.Monique Hurley, legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, said children across Australia “should be in schools and playgrounds, not police and prison cells”, while Cheryl Axleby, the co-chair of Change the Record, said the existing policy was “cruel, harmful and out of step with the rest of the world”.
Axleby said:Axleby said:
Priscilla Atkins, the co-chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, said raising the age was one action that Australian governments could take right away “that will have an immediate – and generational – impact to end the over-incarceration of First Nations kids and to give our kids a brighter future”.Priscilla Atkins, the co-chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, said raising the age was one action that Australian governments could take right away “that will have an immediate – and generational – impact to end the over-incarceration of First Nations kids and to give our kids a brighter future”.
Dr Mick Creati, International Child and Adolescent Health Specialist and Senior Fellow with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said the UN review process was “another opportunity for Australian state and territory governments to be reminded of the urgent need to raise the age of criminal responsibility”.Dr Mick Creati, International Child and Adolescent Health Specialist and Senior Fellow with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said the UN review process was “another opportunity for Australian state and territory governments to be reminded of the urgent need to raise the age of criminal responsibility”.
Nolan Hunter, of Amnesty International Australia, said the UN and experts in child development and health agreed “that we must act on this now”.Nolan Hunter, of Amnesty International Australia, said the UN and experts in child development and health agreed “that we must act on this now”.
And that’s all from me for today. I’ll hand you over to my colleague Michael McGowan.And that’s all from me for today. I’ll hand you over to my colleague Michael McGowan.
Could be some bushfires in Victoria this weekend, the head of the state’s emergency services reckons.Could be some bushfires in Victoria this weekend, the head of the state’s emergency services reckons.
The temperature is going to reach the 40s in some areas.This just in from AAP:The temperature is going to reach the 40s in some areas.This just in from AAP:
Another piece from our powerful Childhood in Custody series has just been published :Another piece from our powerful Childhood in Custody series has just been published :
The ACT has recorded no new Covid-19 cases.
ACT health confirmed restrictions remained for 10 local government areas in Sydney, meaning ACT residents who have been in those areas can return but must quarantine, and non-ACT residents cannot travel to the ACT without an exemption.
No locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland.
Ten cases linked to the Australian Open, including two players.
Restrictions could ease in NSW next week, and on track to ease in Queensland on Friday.
Prime minister Scott Morrison appears to compare the US Capitol insurgency with the Black Lives Matter protests.
A tennis player who said quarantine was like prison apologises.
Multiple reports regarding that earlier bus crash on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road confirming six people have been injured. The road remains closed in both directions between Wye River and Lorne, but you can keep updated with VicRoads here.
As our West Australian readers start to log-on, I bring to you news of possible secession. I have not clicked through to see what other images/tweets etc come up under #WAXIT but please feel free to do so:
A $7bn funding injection into social housing would address surging homelessness caused by the pandemic, advocates say.
This just in from AAP:
There has been a serious bus crash on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. Paramedics are reportedly on the scene, but it is unclear how many people are injured. VicRoads say that the road, an exceedingly popular tourist destination this time of year, is closed between Lorne and Wye River, near the Mount Defiance lookout.
A detour is in place taking drivers inland via Deans Marsh and Skenes Creek.
Victorian emergency services minister Lisa Neville has confirmed there are 10 positive Covid-19 cases linked to the Australian Open, seven of which were confirmed as of yesterday and three more that will be included in tomorrow’s figures.
She said during a media conference in Melbourne that the three new cases included two players and a support person, but one of the players is believed to be shedding the virus.
All the cases are in hotel quarantine, which Neville confirmed was being paid for by Australian Open organisers, not the state government.
Refugee activists say that 26 men held for more than a year in Melbourne hotels were told earlier today they had been granted bridging visas, and will be released.
A statement for the activists said the men were being held in Carlton’s Park Hotel, after being moved recently from the Mantra Hotel in Preston. They had been held for as long as seven years on Manus Island before coming to Australia.
“This is a victory first and foremost for the men inside, who’ve put up with terrible conditions for years but never gave up their struggle for freedom”, said Nahui Jimenez, protest coordinator for the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism.
“As well, it’s a victory for the refugee movement, who have been united in hitting the streets day after day, month after month.”
The campaign will hold a protest on 30 January in a bid to free those who are still detained, with the 26 men released today to be invited as guests of honour.
Earlier, the Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed her government is looking at “a number of options” for quarantine in the regions instead of hotel quarantine in Brisbane.
Asked if that would include a mining camp outside Rockhampton, she said:
Scott Morrison has said he is open to the idea, and the federal government is “already doing that” at the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory.
He told 2GB Radio:
Berejiklian also had this to say about the diminishing prospect of international tourists being allowed into Australia this year and state border closures: