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Australia Covid news live update: Queensland reopens its border after nearly five months; WA to learn its roadmap out of lockdown Australia Covid news live update: Queensland reopens its border after nearly five months; WA to learn its roadmap out of lockdown
(31 minutes later)
Follow all the day’s developmentsFollow all the day’s developments
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has spoken to Radio National about the plight of Australian Julian Assange.Although attempts to extradite him from the UK to the US are ostensibly for their court system, Wilkie said “the reality is it’s always been intensely political” because he claims charges are politically motivated against Assange for “doing his job” as a journalist and reporting via Wikileaks
He said:
Wilkie also called on Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, to commit to the same, if he is elected. Wilkie said jail “is killing” Assange.
On who he will help form government in a minority parliament, Wilkie said he had been burned by Julia Gillard reneging on his pokies reform, and in future he will treat “every vote on its merits including confidence and supply” - meaning no deal to support one side.
Still, he said climate change will be important to him and Scott Morrison has done “terribly” on the anti-corruption commission issue.
Scott Morrison is currently welcoming the South Korean president, Moon Jae-In to Australia.
Gosh, we are so far away from everyone, it’s always exciting when a political leader makes their way down here!
Federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking now from Melbourne where he has just announced that Medicare-funded telehealth options will become permanent.
He also reiterated that Australia is on track to open the border for skilled labourers and international students:
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has implored Scott Morrison to pick up the phone to Joe Biden and Boris Johnson to end the prosecution of Julian Assange, AAP reports.
The former intelligence analyst told the ABC:
It comes after reports the 50-year-old WikiLeaks founder suffered a stroke in prison in October. Wilkie said:
Assange has just suffered a legal blow after the UK high court ruled he could be extradited to face charges in the US. His lawyers say they intend to appeal the decision in the UK’s highest court.
He faces an 175-year prison sentence on espionage charges in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified information which revealed alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just very normal things happening on the NSW/Queensland border.Just very normal things happening on the NSW/Queensland border.
After a Gold Coast man who bludgeoned his teenage girlfriend to death escaped a murder charge by arguing that he had been provoked by her tales of infidelity, the Queensland government decided to step in.After a Gold Coast man who bludgeoned his teenage girlfriend to death escaped a murder charge by arguing that he had been provoked by her tales of infidelity, the Queensland government decided to step in.
“Other than in exceptional or extreme cases you can’t rely on words, or conduct that consists substantially of words,” the state’s then attorney general, Cameron Dick, said in 2011. “We need a change to the law … just because you say something it doesn’t mean that you should be killed.”“Other than in exceptional or extreme cases you can’t rely on words, or conduct that consists substantially of words,” the state’s then attorney general, Cameron Dick, said in 2011. “We need a change to the law … just because you say something it doesn’t mean that you should be killed.”
A decade later, another Queensland man, Arona Peniamina, also convinced a jury his spouse’s suspected infidelity had provoked him into ending her life in a jealous rage.A decade later, another Queensland man, Arona Peniamina, also convinced a jury his spouse’s suspected infidelity had provoked him into ending her life in a jealous rage.
The government’s reforms had not prevented him from successfully arguing he was guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder, because he had been provoked.The government’s reforms had not prevented him from successfully arguing he was guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder, because he had been provoked.
You can read the full report below:
Watch out, Queensland! Anthony Albanese is in your state now and is bringing the election campaign with him!
Here’s what he had to say to the ABC before jumping on his flight to the sunshine state.
A total fire ban has been declared for north-western Victoria, AAP reports.
The Country Fire Authority says the Mallee and Wimmera regions will be subject to a total fire ban on Monday,
It means no open-air fire can be lit or remain alight, and strict rules apply for the use of farm machinery, chainsaws and lawnmowers.
“CFA advises people living in areas at risk of fire to activate their bushfire plan,” the authority said.
Temperatures are expected to reach the mid to high 30s in the two regions, with strengthening north-westerly winds forecast early before a blustery southerly change crossing the state throughout the day.
There is also a low risk of dry lightning in the area.
A high fire danger rating applies for central, north-central, northern country and south-west regions, while the eastern parts of the state are of low to moderate risk.
It is only the second total fire ban of the season, thanks in part to cooler and wetter-than-average weather in November.
The outlook for this fire season indicates a lower threat of prolonged bushfires but grass and crop blazes remain a high risk across the state after average to above-average rainfall and strong fuel growth.
CFA acting chief officer Garry Cook said:
A person in New South Wales has been admitted to hospital infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the first Omicron patient to be hospitalised since it arrived in Australia last month.
It comes as thousands of protesters marched through capital cities yesterday to oppose vaccine mandates, and Western Australia and Queensland prepared to reopen their borders.
After two years of border closures, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, is today due to announce when the state’s borders will reopen to domestic and international travellers, after reaching the 80% vaccination milestone at the weekend.
And “tens of thousands” of people are expected to cross into Queensland after its borders reopen at 1am on Monday. It will be the first time in 229 days people will not need to quarantine on arrival, provided they are fully vaccinated.
You can read the full report below:
Of course with Queensland’s border opening, tourism minister Dan Tehan is out and about this morning taking a victory lap (even though the decision to open the border has nothing to do with the federal government).
Here he is chatting to ABC radio:
Things seem to be getting pretty loose over in the Barnaby Joyce isolation suite, with the deputy prime minister placing his phone inside a microwave to get the perfect camera angle for his Sunrise interview.
I feel like there is a joke about radiation frying your brain in there somewhere, but I’ll just leave that up to you.
China has responded “irrationally” to the Aukus pact between Australia, the US and Britain, defence minister Peter Dutton says.
The conservative Australian minister continues to mount forthright criticism of the Chinese government, accusing it of “bullying” countries that stand up to it.
Yesterday Dutton said the Australian government had formed the Aukus partnership with the US and the UK because it wanted to see “see increased stability and peace in our region”.
“The response by China to that, I think, was irrational,” he told Sky News Australia.
You can read the full report below:You can read the full report below: