Summary
- Victoria has recorded three new coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Thursday. One additional 'mystery case' has been confirmed.
- Four new locally acquired cases have been confirmed in New South Wales. Two of them are students from Malek Fahd Islamic School in western Sydney, and the other two are household contacts.
- The interim report into Victoria's hotel quarantine system by the Board of Inquiry will be delivered on Friday, November 6 and the final report on December 21. The final report has been delayed so evidence from an extra sitting of the inquiry earlier this month can be examined.
- There will be fresh lockdowns in Germany and France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have announced.
- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 44 million, Johns Hopkins University data shows, and there have been 1.17 million deaths from the virus.
Watch live: NSW, Victoria, Queensland premiers hold press conferences
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is speaking at a press conference. You can watch it live below:
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk spoke earlier and both of their press conferences are available to replay:
Latest updates
Melbourne Trains not cleaned properly during COVID, inquiry hears
Melbourne's trains were not cleaned properly at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cleaning contractor pocketing taxpayer's money for work that was not performed while secretly paying off a Metro Trains manager who was covering up the wrongdoing, an inquiry has heard.
Transport reporter Timna Jacks writes that an explosive intercepted phone call played to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry into allegations of serious corruption at V/Line and Metro Trains captures a heated exchange between Translcean boss George Haritos and Metro Trains' operational fleet manager, Peter Bollas, in April this year over the poor quality of cleaning on Melbourne's suburban trains.
Mr Bollas also told the live-streamed hearings he received regular payments of $8000 to $10,000 from Transclean over 3½ to four years while he oversaw cleaning contracts for Metro.
In return, he promoted Transclean's business interests by tipping them off about surprise audits – including during the pandemic – and leaking Metro's financial information to them.
In the conversation played to the hearings on Thursday, Mr Bollas is taking issue with Transclean's deficient cleaning of Melbourne's trains during the pandemic. You can read the expletive-laden exchange (I counted seven f-words) in the article below.
The hearing continues.
Victoria's state budget won't be handed down on November 10: Andrews
By Anna Prytz
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews has said the state's coronavirus recovery budget will not be handed down on November 10.
"The treasurer will make announcements about budget day soon. So November 10 will not be the budget. It is not the date," Mr Andrews said.
"The budget will be a budget like no other and it is a big piece of work and we must give all our officials and all our teams the time needed to put together a budget that is unprecedented in size and scale.
"The treasurer will be able to confirm budget arrangements soon."
Reopening with Victoria could be 'economic disaster for Australia': Berejiklian
By Mary Ward
At this morning's press conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she had received economic advice on whether it was worth risking reopening her state border with Victoria.
Speaking earlier at the Australian Financial Review's CFO Live summit, she gave some more details about what that advice said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants to see Victoria's contact tracing system tested before she reopens to the embattled state.Credit:Sam Mooy
The Premier told the summit her economic advice was it would be better to reopen to all of Australia, New Zealand and other global markets than to reopen with Victoria before the risk of an outbreak was proven to be low.
"At the moment our biggest concern has to be jobs and job growth and economic stimulus," Ms Berejiklian said.
"That has to be our focus: the opportunity costs of opening too soon to Victoria ... it would be an economic disaster for Australia."
The Premier said at her press conference health authorities would be monitoring the case numbers in Victoria for two weeks before making a decision.
Earlier this week, she said she was more inclined to reopen NSW to Victoria as a whole rather than beginning with regional Victorians and extending it to metro Melbourne, due to the difficulty in policing complicated border permits.
Andrews urges people to call coronavirus hotline if they see a breach of COVID-safe rules
By Anna Prytz
Premier Daniel Andrews said he was surprised to hear government agencies were not certain who was responsible for enforcing businesses COVID-safe plans.
"Victoria Police are there to enforce the Chief Health Officer's directions," he said.
"WorkSafe have a role to play if it is in a workplace and authorised officers in partnership with Victoria Police have a role to play as well. So there are many people and they are all working towards the same outcome and I am surprised to hear that and I am not pleased."
"It will depend on whom and to whom the complaint is made. If you ring the hotline they will pass it on and if it is a matter of Victoria Police then it will be referred to them.
"It is more a matter of procedural process then it is conceivable that that may be given to an authorised officer."
He said anyone wanting to report a breach of COVID-safe rules should call the coronavirus hotline.
"You can call the coronavirus hotline and they can either direct you to someone or they would deal with the details you provide them and the appropriate person will be dispatched."
Mr Andrews said that may take the form of an in-person visit or a phone call to the offending business.
"I would have thought that everyone knows and understands that Victoria Police have a role to play here as well but there's is a public health and public order issue as well," he said.
Everyone has got to play a part in this': Andrews on COVID-Safe rules
By Anna Prytz
Premier Daniel Andrews has said he doesn't want the non-compliance of some businesses to take away from the good work of most in reopening and sticking to COVID-safe rules.
"There is a significant compliance effort but it is true to say that we cannot literally have 100,000 people out there making sure these rules are followed and there will always be limits to how much enforcement activity you can have," he said.
"There are fines and they are significant and they will be levied. Everyone has to take this seriously.
"This is everybody's business because if you do not do the right thing in your shop, in your setting, in choices that you make, whether you be a customer, a worker or a business owner, then you are putting everyone at risk. So there is enforcement and I leave Victoria Police to talk about.
"Everyone has got to play a part in this."
Mr Andrews said it was important to take time to get a new QR code system right.
"If you look at other states, they did not necessarily go to a universal QR code platform on day one of opening and it will become more and more important," he said.
"We will have more to say about this, including all those issues around privacy."
As Queensland border clock resets, Berejiklian flags 'unrealistic' target
By Mary Ward
The Queensland government's "border clock" may reset again this week, after NSW recorded a coronavirus case with no known source – and three cases linked to that case – on Thursday.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said she will make an announcement about the NSW-Queensland border on Friday. However, under the state's current rules, NSW is vulnerable to having their access to the sunshine state set back another 28 days – the length of time Queensland would like for NSW to last without a mystery coronavirus case before the border is reopened.
Speaking at her press conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian repeated her statements that the Queensland government has set a "very, very high benchmark" for reopening its border.
"And I don't feel that, in a pandemic, we are going to reach the target of 28 days with having all cases known – sometimes it might take Health just a few hours to identify the source of a case and sometimes it takes days or weeks."
Asked about her comments regarding the LNP candidate at this Saturday's Queensland election supporting the border reopening – which said candidate, Deb Frecklington, said was untrue – Ms Berejiklian distanced herself from her own comments saying "she'd not had that conversation" when asked if the pair had specifically discussed a plan for reopening borders.
"But I know that she's very concerned about jobs in her in her state," the Premier added.
Andrews praises handling of coronavirus infection at Bundoora early learning centre
By Anna Prytz
Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews has praised the handling of the coronavirus case detected in a small child at an early learning centre in Bundoora.
"We wish that family and everybody who has been caught up in this very well. I want to make the point that everybody involved in this has done exactly the right thing," he said.
"They have got tested and retested when it became clear there was a potential for exposure at the childcare centre that closed.
The case is linked to northern metropolitan outbreak and the person the child caught the virus from is not a new case.
The head of Safer Care Australia Euan Wallace reiterated the successful handling of the child's infection.
"When the case in the household became known and the child was then quarantined as part of being a close contact, and the early learning centre did everything we asked them to, closed down and deep cleaned," Professor Wallace said.
'We just don't know' if Victoria is under control: Berejiklian
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has continued to defend her decision to keep the border with Victoria closed, saying it is unclear whether the state's COVID-safe practices are sufficient as it reopens this week.
"What we need to see is – once the so called 'ring of steel' is opened in Melbourne and once restrictions are raised – the impact of what those easing of restrictions means," she said.
Ms Berejiklian said health authorities would be watching the Victorian numbers for two weeks before making any sort of decision.
"We know that when, when you're in a lockdown, it's easy to control the virus: the real test is once you ease those restrictions," she said, later adding "we just don't know" what the impact of the state's reopening will be.
The Premier said she had received economic advice about the economic benefits of NSW being open to New Zealand and the rest of Australia as compared to the health risks of being open to Victoria and concluded her state "needs to be sensible".
Asked specifically about the absence of QR sign-in systems in Victorian restaurants and cafes, Ms Berejiklian said she "would have hoped that other states would have built their resilience during periods of borders being up or lockdowns" but she believed her state did have the tightest COVID-safe practices in the country.
"Every week we've demonstrated our system is resilient and coping with those outbreaks that come up," she said.
"Victoria hasn't yet passed that test, and to be frank, neither has Queensland or WA: it's really easy to manage things when you've got your borders up and you're not returning 3000 people from overseas every week."
Andrews says he can't comment on delays on submitting information to hotel quarantine inquiry report
By Anna Prytz
The Premier has said he can't comment on delays in the DHHS submitting information to the hotel quarantine inquiry.
"I can only speak to the request made of me," he said.
"There was an affidavit for completeness sake, questions put to me where if we complied with the timeline, which was last Thursday or Friday, but we certainly delivered all of my material back when it was there. If they need further information from me, I don't for a moment think they do, but if they do then we would comply."
The interim report of the hotel quarantine will be released next Friday, but the final report has been delayed until December 21 to give the Board of Inquiry time to consider additional evidence delivered on October 20.
'Potentially' a link between new Sydney cases and cluster: Premier
By Mary Ward
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has flagged there is "potentially" a link between four south-west Sydney coronavirus cases reported on Thursday and an existing cluster.
Speaking to reporters at Nepean Hospital on Thursday morning, the Premier said contact tracers were currently working to confirm the cases are not mystery cases i.e. without any link to another existing cluster.
"I'll let Health confirm that before I do, for the sake of accuracy," she said, adding she was "confident" authorities would be able to source the new cases – which are all connected – to a known outbreak.
There are currently three active clusters in western Sydney to which the group of four could be connected: the Lakemba GPs cluster, the Liverpool private health clinic cluster and the Oran Park cluster.
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2020-10-29 01:29:00Z
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