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Australia Covid live news update: Victoria records 603 cases and one death as state braces for construction industry fallout
Australia Covid live news update: Victoria records 603 cases and one death as state braces for construction industry fallout
(32 minutes later)
Follow all the day’s news live
Follow all the day’s news live
Albanese:
Annastacia Palaszczuk is speaking now.
Albanese is not holding back this morning when it comes to his criticisms of Christian Porter and the issue of MP’s blind trust.
She has confirmed the state has recorded no local Covid-19 cases, although she noted that the Byron Bay case just south of the border is concerning.
Victorian union boss John Setka has vowed that some protesters “won’t have a job to come back to when this is over” while speaking with Melbourne radio station 3AW about yesterday’s disturbances outside the CFMEU offices:
There’s a huge police presence outside the CFMEU offices this morning. At least one person has already been moved on:
It doesn’t look as though NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian will be at the press conference today, which is interesting given the expected lockdown announcement for several northern NSW communities.
Children under 18 in NSW will be able to catch up with each other in groups of three, in a concession to families during the school holidays, reports Tiffanie Turnbull from AAP.
Deputy premier John Barilaro told the Nine Network on Tuesday that the crisis cabinet agreed last night to offer relief to families after much of the state has endured months of lockdown and home schooling:
Children don’t have to be vaccinated but they must stay in the same trio of friends.
Despite Scott Morrison telling reporters from New York today that it would be “naive” to think that France could have somehow been pre-warned about the ditching of the diesel submarine deal in favour of the US’s nuclear-powered offer, Anthony Albanese still says the diplomatic situation could have been handled better:
Anthony Albanese:
Anthony Albanese is not holding back this morning when it comes to his criticisms of Christian Porter and the issue of the MP’s blind trust.
Reporter:
Reporter:
Albanese:
Albanese:
Labor is using Scott Morrison’s trip to the US to try and apply pressure on the prime minister to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Labor is using Scott Morrison’s trip to the US to try to apply pressure on the prime minister to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is speaking now:
Anthony Albanese is speaking now:
Former Labor leader and opposition frontbencher Bill Shorten seemed to be in agreement with John Setka on the “rent-a-crowd” nature of yesterday violent protests outside the CFMEU offices, suggesting people had simply bought “$2 high vis” on their way to the event.
Former Labor leader and opposition frontbencher Bill Shorten seemed to be in agreement with John Setka on the “rent-a-crowd” nature of yesterday violent protests outside the CFMEU offices, suggesting people had simply bought “$2 high vis” on their way to the event.
Here’s what he had to say to the Today show this morning:
Here’s what he had to say to the Today show this morning:
Union bosses have doubled down on their stance that yesterday’s violent protesters were not, in fact, mostly angry unionists but instead were far-right agitators and anti-vaccination activists.
Here is what Victorian CFMEU construction secretary John Sekta had to say when speaking to the Nine Network this morning:
Setka was asked in there were “actual neo-Nazis in the crowd”.
He said:
Speaking of the likely northern NSW lockdowns, Ballina MP Tamara Smith has told the ABC she wants tighter restrictions preventing people travelling up from Sydney to the region:
There is lots of chatter around that the northern NSW communities of Ballina, Byron Bay and Tweed Heads could go into lockdown from 5pm today after an infected Sydney traveller spent time in the area.
Deputy premier John Barilaro confirmed during media appearances this morning that it was on the cards.
We will likely get confirmation of this at the NSW presser at 11am, although given that this would spell the end of the border bubble arrangements in the area, I’d say it’s likely Annastacia Palaszczuk will be able to shed some light on this too when she steps up at 10am.
Labor and transparency experts have rubbished claims that MPs and senators may not be required to declare the source of gifts, a loophole that could make further action against Christian Porter more difficult.
Porter resigned from the Morrison government ministry on Sunday, but Labor has demanded he pay back the legal fees part paid by a blind trust or else disclose the source of the funds.
Labor has decided to refer the matter to the privileges committee for a ruling and possible sanction for failing to disclose more details of the gift. But the push could be thwarted by the fact rules governing the register of MPs’ interests do not appear to explicitly require donors of gifts to be named.
You can read the full report below:
The Victorian numbers are out, and they are not good.
603 local Covid-19 cases today, the highest for this outbreak and fast approaching the highest the state has ever recorded.
Sadly one more person infected with Covid-19 has died.
Speaking of the Victorian contruction industry shutdown, industry group Master Builders Association of Victoria aren’t happy at all.
The association’s CEO, Rebecca Casson, released a statement this morning, labelling the move a “bitter blow for the vast majority of building and construction industry businesses which have done the right thing over the past 18 months”.
Let’s get back to Australia for a second and have a think about the Victorian and New South Wales respected reopening plans.
The amazing Melissa Davey has all the details, comparing and contrasting the two state’s road maps.
You can read the full explainer below:
Reporter:
Morrison:
Morrison says he will have no opportunity to speak with (an extremely annoyed) French president Emmanuel Macron before meeting with the rest of the European leaders, despite US president meeting with him.
Morrison:
You know how I’ve been referring to Barnaby Joyce as the “acting prime minister” all morning, well that’s because the actual prime minister is in New York now for the Quad leaders’ summit.
His plane has just touched down and he is now chatting to reporters on the tarmac, mostly about how furious France is with us now that we have backed out of the $90bn submarine deal.
