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Reinstated NSW Minister 'delighted' to be cleared of COVID-19 breach
By Rachel Clun
On Saturday morning, reinstated Arts Minister Don Harwin told media he was happy to leave behind an ordeal that started earlier this year after he was accused of breaching COVID-19 restrictions and wfined by police.
Speaking at the Powerhouse Museum on Saturday morning, Mr Harwin said he was pleased that he was reinstated to cabinet shortly after the $1000 fine for breaching the public health order was withdrawn by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Arts Minister Don Harwin said he was 'delighted' to have been cleared.Credit:Jacky Ghossein
“I’m delighted with the outcome yesterday and I’m now looking forward to drawing a line underneath that and getting on with the job,” he said.
Mr Harwin was also Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and the special minister of state.
Police had alleged Mr Harwin breached travel bans during lockdown by commuting between his Sydney residence and his holiday home on the Central Coast.
Police handed him a fine for being "in contravention of a current ministerial direction", and whilst he lodged an appeal he also stood down from his cabinet roles.
After the fine was withdrawn on Friday, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, who initially reviewed the fine, said he stood by his decision to proceed with it.
“The discontinuation of the case by the ODPP is a matter for them,” he said.
Victoria's struggling live music venues thrown a lifeline
By Martin Boulton
The Victorian government will deliver a lifeline to struggling music venues with $15 million worth of grants to help pay wages and business expenses.
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley said the new Victorian Live Music Venues Program would provide an injection of money to help secure "grassroots venues" at the heart of Victoria's $1.7 billion live music industry.
Lara Whalley, Angie McMahon and Alice Skye at The Corner in Richmond.Credit:Simon Schluter
Grants will be available to venues across the state with a capacity of 50 to 1200 people that have a "reputation for presenting original live music" and follow a previously announced $4 million that will help support musicians and industry workers who have lost gigs and employment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Venues have been a vital part of our music culture and economy, hosting thousands of gigs a week, providing a vital career-making platform for artists and employment for industry workers," Mr Foley said.
"While our love of music has continued online throughout the shutdown, paid work for many in the industry has dried up. By helping to secure venues for the future, we'll help the industry bounce back when it is safe to do so."
Opposition wants more support for locked down businesses
By Liam Mannix
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien has called on the Victorian government to offer more support to businesses affected by the new lockdowns.
The state government has offered $5000 to each effected business, but Mr O'Brien said that was not nearly enough.
"We need support for small business. $5000 for businesses that are locked down and locked out won’t be enough to keep them alive," he said.
"The government has caused this problem through the hotel quarantine stuff-up. The government needs to help those small businesses stay alive and keep their workers in jobs."
Victorian Opposition Leader says heads should roll
By Liam Mannix
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien is speaking to the media this morning. The first thing he wants to talk about is hotel quarantine.
The Age reported today that key players in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system warned Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton about major problems with the scheme back in April.
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien.Credit:Darrian Traynor
He was told there was not enough masks and gloves, and hotel staff and security guards were regularly breaching physical-distancing guidelines.
Mr O’Brien claimed that contradicted Premier Daniel Andrews’ claim the first time he knew about issues with the system was when the first case associated with the hotels leaked into the community.
“We see the government claiming the first thing they knew about issues with hotel quarantine was when the first case was infected,” Mr O’Brien said.
“In fact, again, government reports leaked out show they knew about this back in April. Why didn't they do something when they were first told about it?
“Why on earth did not they do something when they first knew about it? 310,000 Victorians are now locked in their homes or shut out of their businesses.
“The government needs to be held accountable for their errors. And frankly, heads should roll.”
Mr O'Brien said the government should have known using private security firms would cause problems.
“This government has been aware we have got a massive problem with private security here in Victoria," Mr O'Brien said.
"Why on Earth would the government use those same dodgy private security companies to guard returned travelers at hotels?
"Why did not they use the Australian Defense Force? People who are trained, people who are professional, people who can be trusted not to sleep with the guests.”
Seven U.S. states post record COVID cases, curfew ordered in Miami
By Nathan Layne and Gabriella Borter
Alabama and six other U.S. states reported record increases in coronavirus cases on Friday as Florida's most populous county imposed a curfew ahead of the Independence Day weekend and Arkansas joined a push toward mandating mask-wearing in public.
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama all registered new daily highs in cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Texas hit a new peak for hospitalisations, with one doctor calling for a "complete lockdown" in the state to get the virus under control.
The daily U.S. tally of cases stood at 53,483 late on Friday, below the previous day's record 55,405.
The recent surge, most pronounced in southern and western states, has alarmed public health officials, who urged caution ahead of a July 4th holiday weekend to celebrate the Declaration of Independence of the United States in 1776.
North Carolina, for one, reported 951 hospitalisations and 2,099 cases, both record highs.
Bill Saffo, mayor of Wilmington, North Carolina, said many infections had been traced to large gatherings and predicted a further jump after the holiday weekend as people flouted guidelines on social distancing and masks.
"We know that the spread is going to happen. We know probably in about two weeks we'll see a spike from the July 4th weekend," Saffo told CNN.
Despite the jump in infections, the average daily death toll in the United States has gradually declined in recent weeks, a reflection of the growing proportion of positive tests among younger, healthier people who are less prone to severe outcomes.
However, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that the impact on fatalities from the recent surge, which started in mid-June, had yet to be seen. "Deaths lag at least two weeks and can lag even more," he told "Fox & Friends" on Friday.
Reuters
National tally grows by almost 200 after Ruby Princess crew cases added to total
By Rachel Clun
Almost 200 cases have been added to the Australian total after COVID-19 cases reported in crew members from the Ruby Princess were reclassified as Australian cases.
The 189 cases have been added to the NSW Health tally by the Commonwealth Department of Health, but aren’t included in the number of confirmed cases put out by NSW.
The Ruby Princess cruise ship.Credit:Janie Barrett
NSW Health said that is because the cases, which were reported by the government agency at the time, were diagnosed on the ship and not within NSW.
“The cases were not associated with any further transmissions in Australia as they were managed on board the cruise ship,” a NSW Health spokesman said.
There are six new cases of COVID-19 in NSW, including five in return travellers.
Health authorities confirmed one of the cases is the potential case reported yesterday in an 18-year-old student from a Central Coast school.
Green Point Christian College was closed on Friday as health authorities investigated that case.
One previously confirmed case has been excluded after further investigation, so the state total is now 3216.
One person in NSW remains in intensive care.
That case is among 63 being treated by NSW Health, and more than 2788 people have recovered.
Thousands of students and staff at Truganina school sent into isolation
By Adam Carey
More than 2000 students and 300 teachers and staff from a large independent school in Melbourne's west have been sent into quarantine and are being tested for COVID-19 following five new positive cases on Friday.
Al-Taqwa College in Truganina has been linked with 23 cases.Credit:Craig Abraham
Al-Taqwa College in Truganina has been linked to 23 cases of the virus this week, but is not situated in one of Melbourne's 10 lockdown postcodes.
Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Anneliese Van Diemen said the college "has now been entirely placed in quarantine – all staff and students".
It is the first time an entire school community in Melbourne has been sent into self-isolation due to COVID-19.
Where the bloody hell now? $60b tourism sector fights for survival
By Patrick Hatch
In early March this year, when the novel coronavirus COVID-19 felt like a distant threat, Mark Dalgleish landed what should have been a dream booking for his family's small business.
Hollywood power couple Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson wanted a private zip around Sydney's iconic harbour and chartered one of Sydney Harbour Boat Tours' two vessels for the job.
While Australia's decision to shut out visitors from China in February was hurting some tourism operators, Dalgleish was still fully booked with American and European tourists. But four days after their cruise, on March 12, the Oscar winner and his singer/actor wife publicly revealed they had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Sydney Harbour Boat Tours relied almost entirely on overseas visitors. Owner Mark Dalgleish says it's now trying to pivot to local leisure seekers. Credit:Louise Kennerley
“We went from ‘woohoo, we’ve got Tom Hanks on the boat, to ‘woohoo, we may have coronavirus on the boat',” Dalgleish recalls.
While his crew went into isolation awaiting test results (all negative), a photo of Hanks, Wilson and the boat's captain – Dalgleish's daughter Elodi – arm-in-arm were splashed on the front of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph the next day. There was no choice but to shut the business down.
"We were probably one of the first tourism operators to shut shop and we really haven’t been open since, given 95 per cent of our customer base was international," he says.
Dalgleish's tourism business may have been one of the first to temporarily shut, but it wasn't the last. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across Australia's economy, but nowhere was the pain as instant or more devastating as in the tourism industry, which was already reeling from the summer's horror bushfires.
'You hear screaming at night': Plea to find homes for hotel homeless
By Bianca Hall
About 2000 homeless people who have been put up in hotels across Victoria during the coronavirus outbreak face the prospect of having to return to the streets later this month without a state government lifeline.
The Andrews government moved about 4000 homeless people into hotel accommodation around the state amid concerns the deadly virus would sweep through vulnerable rough sleepers.
Melbourne man Paul Barr says the uncertainty of the hotel accommodation scheme is wearing on him.Credit:Justin McManus
About 2000 people, including children, remain in subsidised hotel rooms.
With the funding set to run out at the end of July, the government is under pressure to extend the scheme while it progressively relocates homeless people into secure and permanent housing.
Health Minister raises conspiracy concern as 10,000 refuse virus test
By Michael Fowler and Matt Bungard
More than 10,000 people have refused to take a coronavirus test in the past week with Health Minister Jenny Mikakos saying that some claim that the global pandemic is a conspiracy.
Ms Mikakos said health authorities were analysing the data to determine why people were refusing tests, even after 10 Melbourne postcodes were put into a second lockdown from Thursday to control the spread of the highly contagious virus.
A man is tested in the locked-down suburb of Dallas on Thursday.Credit:Getty Images
"It is concerning that some people believe that coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won’t impact on them," she said.
Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that if people did not follow government advice to get tested and self-isolate if experiencing symptoms, more parts of Melbourne and Victoria may have to be locked down.
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2020-07-04 02:09:00Z
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