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Cautious optimism despite Victoria recording 372 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths
By Rachael Dexter
Victoria has recorded 372 new coronavirus cases and a further 14 deaths, with epidemiologists cautiously optimistic the state's second wave of infections has turned a corner.
It comes after the state recorded 278 new cases on Thursday – its lowest number of infections in weeks and less than half the record total of 725 notched up last Wednesday.
"I am 100 per cent convinced we are well past the peak and are heading down quite quickly," said Professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics at the University of South Australia.
"If you look at the trend over the past week, it seems to be unmistakable – it’s going down," he said.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases has dropped from a peak of 575 almost two weeks ago to 310 on Thursday.
David Littleproud says PM will raise border closures at national cabinet
By Marissa Calligeros
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says the Prime Minister will raise the issue of state border closures with the national cabinet.
It follows revelations a three-year-old girl with cancer will have to travel hundreds of kilometres for treatment after being barred from South Australia.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"In far western Victoria there's a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who's got cancer. She's actually wearing a colostomy bag and has lost part of her spine and was getting chemotherapy in Adelaide," MR Littleproud told Radio National this morning.
"Now because of the closure, she's unable to get chemo in Adelaide and has now been pushed away. Her family are going to have to take her hundreds upon hundreds of kilometres away to get treatment.
"This isn't just about pressures we're going to have on our food supply and animal welfare, this is a real human toll. We're just asking our Premiers to inject themselves and lead on compassionate human grounds as well."
Mr Littleproud said hard state border closures were having dire impacts on regional Australians, as well as food supply chains, farmers and animal welfare.
"That's exactly what the Prime Minister will escalate [at national cabinet], but ultimately this comes down to every single state's sovereignty and our constitution protects that and rightfully so," he said.
"The Prime Minister is himself going to escalate this because he sees the gravity of the situation that's coming before us. He's going to inject himself and ask the Premiers in each state to inject themselves together and understand each other's borders."
Mr Littleproud praised the Goondiwindi Shire Council on the Queensland/NSW border which erected electronic gates at the border crossing and gave people in NSW a pin code so that only they could get through the gates.
"Those are practical solutions that can be done ... I think the gates cost around $20,000 and you don't need anyone at the border."
Victoria records 14 deaths, 372 new cases on Friday
Victoria has recorded 14 deaths and 372 new cases on Friday.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services have released today's numbers and they aren't too pretty.
More details will be revealed later today.
Our charts below have been updated with the latest figures.
Littleproud denies his department failed to co-operate with Ruby Princess inquiry
By Marissa Calligeros
"From my understanding, this officer within my department would not be able to be afforded Commonwealth legal representation, they would have to have their own," he said.
It has emerged that a biosecurity officer with the Department of Agriculture spoke with the port agent of Carnival Cruises on the gangway of the Ruby Princess when it docked and the biosecurity officer was told some passengers had been tested for influenza and 11 were in isolation.
"All information that the inquiry requested with respect to that information ... was provided in much detail," Mr Littleproud said.
"[The] federal agricultural agency only looks after plants and animals, they don't look after human health, and that's always been the convention. State governments hold the responsibility of human health."
Dutton criticises 'childish' Palaszczuk over borders
By Mary Ward
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has criticised his home state's premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, amid rumours the Queensland leader is set to tighten border restrictions further.
"When you get a Premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk making announcements about border closures when Gladys Berejiklian is doing a press conference and she is caught out, the question is asked of her and she knows nothing about it, she hadn't been contacted by Queensland you would imagine she would be a bit miffed," Mr Dutton told Today, referencing the most recent tightening of Queensland's border which saw the whole of NSW and ACT declared hotspot areas.
Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"I think it is childish. There is a growing mood here in Queensland at the moment of people who say 'if the doctors are saying close the borders or put in place this regime, fair enough', but there is a lot of politics being played in Queensland at the moment."
Asked about the federal government's involvement in the Ruby Princess bungle, ahead of the findings of the inquiry into the incident being handed down today, the Home Affairs Minister said he believed the responsibility for infection control was on the states.
"I don't employ a doctor or nurse at the airport, at ports," he said.
"That is the responsibility of the Victorian health department or the Queensland health department, the NSW health department: it is nothing to do with the Australian Border Force."
COVID, renewable energy combine to spark hopes for power bill relief
By Mike Foley
The coronavirus and renewable energy generation are driving wholesale power prices to their lowest point in five years, as Energy Minister Angus Taylor warns electricity retailers they are on notice to pass the savings on to their customers.
The Australian Energy Regualtor's June quarter wholesale market report, released on Friday, said the wholesale prices paid by retailers had averaged $85 per megawatt hour in all regions in the national energy market for the first time since 2015. For the first time since 2016, wholesale gas prices dipped below $7.25 in all regions as well.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor is warning retailers they must pass wholesale power price falls on to consumers.Credit:Jesse Marlow
Wholesale electricity prices make up about one third of a retail electricity bill, with the remaining costs dominated by network charges to pay for the poles and wires.
AER chairwoman Clare Savage said the electricity price drop was due to lower fuel costs for power generators and increased uptake of renewable energy.
Palmer hangs up on ABC radio after border challenge questions
By Mary Ward
Clive Palmer has hung up on Radio National breakfast host Hamish McDonald in a rather wild interview on the program this morning.
After claiming he "did not know" if Western Australian taxpayers would ultimately foot the bill of a now-blocked damages claim against the state's government – allegedly totalling $30 billion – in relation to his iron ore interests, questioning then turned to his High Court challenge over the state's border restrictions.
Mr Palmer confirmed his legal team had written to Premier Mark McGowan's government offering to drop his border challenge if the iron ore matter was heard outside of Western Australia, as was expressed in a letter tabled in the state's Parliament this week.
However he claimed this was not done at his direction.
"[My solicitor has] just got an idea," Mr Palmer said, adding he "wasn't writing on [Palmer's] company's behalf, he was writing as an officer of the court" to make processes more efficient.
After further questions were put to Mr Palmer, and the mining magnate was asked to mind his language on air, he hung up on host Hamish McDonald.
"I've had enough of talking to you," he said.
Community transmission keeps me awake at night: Berejiklian
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said community transmission of coronavirus in the state "keeps [her] awake at night", calling on residents of western and south-west Sydney to come forward for testing in breakfast television appearances this morning.
Speaking on Sunrise, the Premier said there was ongoing concern about the rate of community transmission in Sydney.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit:Kate Geraghty
Yesterday, three new cases without a known source were recorded. Of the additional four cases that were linked to known cases, none of those known cases had a confirmed source.
“We’re concerned that there is community transmission we haven’t picked up,” she said.
“We’re doing well, we’re holding our own, but when every week you get a couple of unknown cases and they can’t be linked, you do worry.”
Appearing also on Today, the Premier defended her government's decision to not mandate the wearing of masks in circumstances such as on public transport or in supermarkets.
At present, the health advice is that masks are "strongly recommended" in situations where people cannot socially distance.
"We are not at that place yet and we have to remember that masks are the fourth line of defence," Ms Berejiklian said.
"What we really want people to do first and foremost is to come forward and get tested and isolate for two weeks if they have been asked to do so. That is the most critical thing we need people to do."
Asked about the Queensland border, Ms Berejiklian said she received little contact from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
"We have been trying really hard with the Victorian border, Daniel Andrews and I are in constant contact about that and it is really hard," she remarked, noting that the Queensland border could have a very easy solution.
"The Victorian-NSW border has 55 different crossings. Queensland-NSW is far easier to manage. I am sure we could sort it out if I had that opportunity."
Patient zero for Victoria's second wave was not a security guard
By Richard Baker
Patient zero in Victoria's calamitous second wave of COVID-19 was not a badly behaved security guard but a night duty manager at the Rydges hotel on Swanston Street, one of Melbourne's busiest quarantine hotels.
Leaked emails show the night manager reported on Monday, May 25, that he had come down with a fever, and late on the afternoon of the following day Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions officials were told the hotel employee had tested positive. It is presumed he caught it from a returned traveller, who has not been identified.
The Rydges on Swanston hotel, whose night manager was "patient zero" in the coronavirus outbreak.Credit:Justin McManus
The emails seen by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald show a considerable effort was then made to contain the spread of the infection.
Seven security guards contracted to patrol the hotel were stood down immediately and told to get tested and go home to isolate. A small number of hotel staff and health workers were told to do the same.
'Many lessons' to learn from Ruby Princess bungle: Birmingham
By Mary Ward
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has said there will be "many lessons" learned when the findings of the Ruby Princess inquiry are handed down today.
The ABC has reported this morning that Qantas and Virgin tried to get Ruby Princess passenger lists from Border Force and the federal Department of Health before letting people who had been on the ship onto their domestic flights, but were denied them due to privacy reasons.
The Ruby Princess cruise ship.Credit:Janie Barrett
"Logically you would think that those things should be available," Mr Birmingham told ABC News Breakfast this morning, when asked about the report and the responsibility of the federal government in the biosecurity bungle which led to more than 600 coronavirus cases across the country.
"Clearly there will be many lessons learned out of this inquiry with the Ruby Princess. Those lessons, no doubt, will extend to the types of communication in future that is necessary for any type of analogous circumstance situation."
Speaking on the effect of the pandemic on the Australian tourism industry, Mr Birmingham said the current border restrictions in place in relation to NSW and Victoria were of course having an effect but were "proportionate".
He encouraged those able to book domestic travel to not just sit at the beach, but instead spend money at a wider variety of local businesses.
"To Australians who can take a trip, who can book a trip, please do so and support the jobs and small businesses of many fellow Australians."
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2020-08-13 23:21:00Z
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