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Australia news live: WA premier Mark McGowan holds coronavirus press conference over hotel quarantine cases Covid Australia live updates: WA premier Mark McGowan announces three-day lockdown for Perth and Peel after coronavirus case leaves hotel quarantine
(32 minutes later)
Fifteen Sydney waterfront workers waiting on coronavirus test results after boarding ship carrying infected sailorsFifteen Sydney waterfront workers waiting on coronavirus test results after boarding ship carrying infected sailors
Mark McGowan repeats that outbreaks from hotel quarantine are the risk of having Australians return from overseas. He says hotels are not designed for quarantine, and are full of hundreds of people coming back to Australia.
He points out all the changes they’ve made including HEPA air filters in the hotels, requiring all hotel staff to only work one job, for them to be vaccinated, and to get daily tests, but he says Covid is “insidious”.
He says they’re still trying to make the hotels fit for purpose on the basis of the last report WA had on the hotel quarantine program, but those upgrades were happening while people were still coming back through the system.
Q. Why can people go to the rugby and basketball games tonight but not Anzac Day services? Mark McGowan:
Chris Dawson says around 20 people who were on the same flight from Perth to Melbourne as the man who travelled to Melbourne are either on their way back or already back in WA. Police and the health department will determine whether they’re close contacts.
He notes there are no interstate travel restrictions in place at this time (I am guessing that might change to line up with the lockdown as we have seen previously).
Contact tracing is under way, but Chris Dawson says the man from Melbourne who tested positive did not use the Safe WA QR code check-in app for the places he visited. Dawson said his friend who tested positive did, however.
Dawson urges everyone to use the QR code check-in app (albeit that they won’t be able to dine in restaurants or go to pubs for anything other than takeaway this weekend).
Police commissioner Chris Dawson says there is already advice that there is a lot of traffic on the roads, and stresses they will not be preventing people leaving the Perth or Peel region up to midnight:
People who do leave the Perth/Peel region will be expected to wear a mask, regardless of where they are in Western Australia.
Professional sports in Perth will go ahead but only with players and officials. The Wildcats and Western Force rugby game will go ahead with crowds tonight because it’s before midnight, but anything between Saturday and Monday night will not go ahead with crowds.
WA police commissioner Chris Dawson has urged Perth and Peel residents not to rush around tonight ahead of lockdown commencing at midnight:
WA premier Mark McGowan says he has asked for the number of international arrivals per week in WA be cut from 1,025 to 512 per week for the next month:
WA premier Mark McGowan announces a three-day lockdown from midnight tonight until midnight on Monday.
People can only leave home for work, shopping for essentials, medical needs, compassionate requirements, or exercise with a maximum of four people, limited to one hour per day.
Masks are mandatory from 6pm tonight.
Pubs, bars and clubs, except takeaway, are closed. Gyms and indoor sporting venues are closed and no committee sport is permitted.
Playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor recreational facilities; cinemas, entertainment venues and casinos; large religious gatherings and places of worship; and libraries and cultural institutions are all closed. No visitors to hospitals or residential aged care or disability facilities unless there are exceptional circumstances. Weddings and funerals will be permitted, however, with 100-patron capacity not including staff, and masks must be worn.
Anzac Day dawn services in Perth and Peel will not go ahead.
WA premier Mark McGowan says the Victorian man who tested positive was one of two in adjacent rooms to those who tested positive.WA premier Mark McGowan says the Victorian man who tested positive was one of two in adjacent rooms to those who tested positive.
He was in Perth for five days before he left for Melbourne yesterday, and has already passed on Covid-19 to one of his close contacts in Perth.He was in Perth for five days before he left for Melbourne yesterday, and has already passed on Covid-19 to one of his close contacts in Perth.
They’re still contact tracing, but he went and had a coffee in Leeming on the 18th, a dinner in Northridge, and stayed at St Catherine’s College at UWA, went to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, visited Kings Park on the 20th and Northbridge again, and then wen tto the airport on the 21st. They’re still contact tracing, but he went and had a coffee in Leeming on the 18th, a dinner in Northridge, and stayed at St Catherine’s College at UWA, went to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, visited Kings Park on the 20th and Northbridge again, and then wen to the airport on the 21st.
He was on QF778 and Victoria is tracing those 257 passengers.He was on QF778 and Victoria is tracing those 257 passengers.
We are still waiting for the WA premier Mark McGowan’s press conference, but the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy has informed its members that the state will enter a three-day lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 transmission in hotel quarantine. We are still waiting for the WA premier Mark McGowan’s press conference, but the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy has informed its members that Perth and the Peel region will enter a three-day lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 transmission in hotel quarantine.
That WA press conference is now 2.30pm WA time. We will get there eventually.
Kevin Rudd said there needs to be a fundamental readjustment to Australia’s position on coal given the changes globally:
He said “the days of Morrison walking into parliament with a lump of coal saying this was come to Jesus moment for the Australian resources industry, frankly, is an appeal to past nostalgia”.
Kevin Rudd accuses the Morrison government of “inelegantly crab-walking” towards net zero by 2050 because everyone else already is, and says the 2030 target is becoming more important – Australia so far has refused to up its target:
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, is on ABC News to discuss the climate summit overnight.
He says it is “pretty good” and gives it an eight out of 10. He says it shows America is “back in the game” and countries around the world – aside from Australia – are lifting their efforts when it comes to combatting climate change.
He says the argument about technology over targets from prime minister, Scott Morrison, is “nonsense”. While technology has always been important, targets are crucial:
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission warning it on increasing the minimum wage.
ACCI’s submission in reply argues there are “substantial concerns around the multi-speed recovery” given recreation and personal services industries have not recovered, “uncertainty regarding vaccination rates and international virus variants”.
It also leans very heavily into the prospect of job losses now the jobkeeper wage subsidy has expired. It noted in March 21% of businesses reported to the ABS they were reliant on jobkeeper and other wage support programs.
It said:
ACCI also argues that lifting the minimum wage is an inappropriate form of stimulus because the costs are born by small and medium-sized businesses, and noted they already have the cost of the superannuation guarantee increasing from 9.5 to 10% in July.
The ACTU submission in reply complains that whether they are calling for a freeze or a delay in the increase in the minimum wage, big businesses’ claims amount to a pay cut.
The ACTU president Michele O’Neil said:
And another 15-minute delay on that WA press conference, 2.15pm, local time, start.
Queensland police have provided some more information about those two bodies found in an apartment on the Gold Coast.
A 53-year-old man was found, and initial investigations indicate the man’s death is not suspicious, but a crime scene was declared after a second body of a 48-year-old woman was found at the apartment.
A post-mortem will be conducted.
Just a bit more on those two men charged over alleged racist abuse sent to NRL player Latrell Mitchell, from AAP.
The NRL has warned it will continue to refer racist online trolling of its players to police after two men were charged with sending abusive messages via social media to South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell.
Mitchell earlier this week informed the NRL Integrity Unit he had received numerous offensive and “racially charged” social media messages.
The Integrity Unit forwarded those complaints to police, who on Friday arrested a 22-year-old Taree man and a 25-year-old Lake Munmorah man.
Both men were charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and granted bail to appear in NSW courts next month.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said the competition would not tolerate racist trolling of players.
He also lauded Mitchell for his leadership role in fighting online abuse.
“Any fan who racially abuses or threatens our players will be referred to police,” Abdo said in a statement.
“I want to commend Latrell for the leadership role he is taking. We wholeheartedly support Latrell in reporting this matter. He is a leader in the fight against racism in our community.”
That WA press conference has been delayed by half an hour, so should be 2pm WA time, 4pm AEST.
The bodies of a man and another person have been found in a unit on the Gold Coast, AAP reports.
The man’s body was found at the apartment block on Labrador Street, Labrador, about 10.20am on Friday.
Officers who arrived on the scene then found another person’s body in the same unit about 11.20am.
Police did not say whether the second dead person was a man or a woman.