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Australia’s unemployment up 0.1 per cent over September
By Jennifer Duke
Australia’s unemployment rate increased 0.1 per cent over September with 29,500 people leaving the workforce over the month.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday released the latest labour force data showing there was an increase in the unemployment rate to 6.9 per cent but monthly hours worked increased by 9 million hours.
People walking in Martin Place, Sydney.Credit:Louise Kennerley
The underemployment rate jumped 0.1 per cent to 11.4 percent, with the participation rate falling 0.1 per cent to 64.8 per cent.
Over September full-time employment dropped by 20,100 to more than 8.5 million people while part-time employment fell by 9400 to about 4 million workers.
Employment in Victoria fell by 36,000 jobs, following a 37,000 drop in August, and hours worked in the state declined 2.1 per cent.
Economists were surprised last month by an improvement in the official jobless figure, with more than 110,000 roles created in August pushing the unemployment rate down to 6.8 per cent from 7.5 per cent. There had been an expectation of a jump to 8 per cent on the back of more restrictions to manage coronavirus outbreaks in Victoria.
While this put total employment back above 12.5 million, reaching levels seen in July 2018, total hours only lifted by 0.1 per cent and there was a significant increase in part-time positions and sole traders.
‘I am a little bit less concerned today': NSW CHO
By Mary Ward
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has said she is feeling more confident today than she was earlier in the week.
Dr Chant said the three new cases linked to the Lakemba GPs cluster were all household contacts of known cases who were in self-isolation.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant.Credit:SMH
"My comfort level is going to go up and down," she admitted. "So I was more concerned. I am a little bit less concerned today. But I don't bet on COVID."
The Chief Health Officer thanked people from Bargo, 100km south-west of Sydney, for coming forward for testing. However, Dr Chant and Health Minsiter Brad Hazzard both expressed concerns about low testing rates in the state.
"The fact that we had 15,802 tests today as opposed to more than 16,000 yesterday: it's quite concerning," Mr Hazzard said, noting he hoped people would heed the government's call yesterday for testing rates to increase.
On Wednesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government had planned to ease further restrictions this week but held off in light of higher cases. Mr Hazzard said these decisions were being reviewed every day, but there was currently no plan in place.
Victorian briefing at 11.51am, Andrews to honour West Gate Bridge collapse 50th anniversary
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has alerted media that the time of his daily briefing will be at 11.51am, the time the West Gate Bridge collapsed fifty years ago to this day.
Aerial shot of the collapse of the West Gate Bridge in October 1970.
On 15 October, 1970, a 2000-ton span of the West Gate Bridge collapsed killing 35.
Rescue workers, using heavy cranes, oxyacetylene torches, shovels and crowbars worked desperately searching for survivors.
It remains one of the worst industrial disasters in Australian history.
Investigative reporter at Ben Schneiders wrote a moving piece reflecting the experience of workers who were there and watched sections of the bridge come down.
NSW on 'high alert' after Shepparton case
By Mary Ward
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says his state is on "high alert" after an outbreak in regional Victoria caused by a man who is believed to have not initially told authorities about his travel in the area.
A coronavirus outbreak is growing in Shepparton, an area which is part of Victoria included in NSW's border region.
Mr Hazzard said the incident indicated a need for people to be completely honest with contact tracers when interviewed.
"You need to make sure that you tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and be very, very careful in what you're telling public health officials," the Health Minister said, later adding: "We are not interested in any of your personal activities, we are not interested in other legal issues that you might have been involved in."
Mr Hazzard said special warnings had been issued to aged care facilities near the Victorian border in light of the new regional cases.
NSW records six new local cases
By Mary Ward
NSW has recorded six new local coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period, Health Minister Brad Hazzard has announced.
"Three of the new locally acquired cases are very clearly linked to the GP practice ... in Lakemba," the Health Minister said, noting health authorities anticipated there would be a number of people who had been in close contact with the infectious GPs and they were "still alert to more cases" which may come from the cluster.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard.Credit:Louise Kennerley
Another one of the cases is a household contact of the man in his 70s in Bargo who was announced yesterday but included in today's numbers. A new pop-up clinic has been established at Bargo Community Hall.
The sources of these two cases and a new infection in a man in his 50s from south-east Sydney are sunder investigation, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
NSW has also recorded five new cases in hotel quarantine.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant gives coronavirus update
Queensland records one new case of COVID-19
By Jocelyn Garcia
Queensland has recorded one new COVID-19 case after a returned overseas traveller tested positive while in hotel quarantine.
The person travelled from Uganda and Dubai to Papua New Guinea before arriving back to Cairns in far north Queensland.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said there was no cause for concern.
“If anything this underlines how effective our hotel quarantine program and our testing program is and it’s a credit to the Cairns Hospital and health service of how well they are managing,” he said.
Mr Miles said active cases in the state remained at two.
“For a few hours yesterday afternoon I was especially excited,” he said.
“One of our active cases was discharged meaning we had got down to one active case, but of course with this case we are back to two.”
Mr Miles said this was inevitable as overseas travellers continued to return to Australia from countries that had higher numbers of COVID-19.
How sleeping apart could help your relationship ride out restrictions
By Kimberly Gillan
Like many Melbourne couples, my husband and I have hardly spent a moment apart this year, save our daily permitted exercise breaks.
We used to work, exercise, travel and often socialise separately but in Melbourne's ongoing lockdown, we've had to step up beyond the usual life partners/co-parents to become each other's, well, everything.
Sleeping apart is like a little holiday from each other and can be surprisingly beneficial for your general affection.Credit:iStock
Sure, you could argue we signed up for that when I walked down the aisle but in fairness, we figured we'd have family and friends and even drinking holes to shoulder a bit of the load.
By some miracle, we mostly still seem to still like each other, but there's no denying a certain blandness seeped into the monotony of our home life as we plodded through the months of lockdown.
Where we used to bring home colourful tales of dive bar gigs and long lunches and whack water cooler banter, our conversations seemed to slip to a daily dissection of COVID numbers and whether there's any chance we'd see our siblings this side of Christmas.
But when we took to separate rooms recently so I could sleep train our baby without worrying about waking him, we discovered a silver lining – it was like we'd had a little holiday from each other and was surprisingly beneficial for our general affection.
Victorian woman fined after hiding in truck cabin during Queensland border crossing
By Danielle Cronin
A Victorian woman has been hit with a $4003 fine after she was discovered hiding in the cabin of a truck intercepted at the Queensland border.
Queensland police launched a crackdown on heavy vehicles crossing the border under the freight pass scheme.
More than 180 trucks were stopped at three sites – Cunningham Highway at Goondiwindi, Leichardt Highway at Goondiwindi and New England Highway at Wyberba – to ensure drivers were complying with the rules.
Three drivers returned a positive drug test.
A 61-year-old male driver was fined $4003 after police discovered a 51-year-old Victorian woman hiding behind the driver’s seat when the prime mover was stopped at Texas about 11.40am on Wednesday.
After the driver and his female passenger were fined, they were directed to leave Queensland.
Acting Chief Superintendent Ray Rohweder said most of the truck drivers understood the rules on physically distancing and limiting their contact with others while in Queensland.
“Unfortunately, some drivers were not complying with laws around drug driving, fatigue management and vehicle maintenance,” he said.
It comes after 16 carnival workers from Victoria were fined and kicked out of the state when police found them in the Mackay, a coastal city about 800km north of Brisbane.
Taskforce Sierra Linnet: By the numbers
- 184 heavy vehicles stopped
- 46 heavy vehicle traffic offences (mostly work diary and fatigue management)
- 183 breath tests and 140 drug tests
- 3 positive drug tests
- 56 police officers involved
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2020-10-15 00:43:00Z
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