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Victoria records five new cases of COVID-19
By Broede Carmody
Victoria’s daily coronavirus numbers are in.
The state has recorded five new cases of COVID-19.
The Department of Health says three of the cases are linked to existing outbreaks and were in quarantine for their infectious period. Another two cases remain under investigation.
There are officially six cases reported today, but we already knew about one of those cases yesterday (a teacher who works in Melbourne’s west). That case is also under investigation.
There are now 80 active cases of coronavirus across Victoria.
Andrews government quashes push to legalise cannabis in Victoria
By Michael Fowler and Paul Sakkal
A two-year state Parliament inquiry that was set to recommend legalising cannabis in Victoria has been watered down after Andrews government MPs intervened at the last minute.
The inquiry’s report, to be released this morning, now suggests the government “investigate the impacts of legalising cannabis for adult personal use in Victoria” – a marginal step that dents proponents’ hopes of a shift in the state’s drug policy in the foreseeable future.
A shift on cannabis policy in Victoria is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Credit:Reuters
The inquiry considered evidence on both the decriminalisation and legalisation of the drug before the axed recommendations of the inquiry were drafted. Decriminalisation removes criminal penalties for the possession or use of the drug, while legalisation removes further barriers and can open it up to regulation.
Read the full story here.
Extra security key to mandatory QR code safety concerns: NSW Police Minister
By Broede Carmody
NSW Police Minister David Elliott was on the Today show earlier this morning.
He was asked about reports of supermarket workers being verbally abused or even physically assaulted while trying to enforce mandatory QR code check-ins, as per NSW’s public health orders.
NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott.Credit:Kate Geraghty
“Anybody that has been assaulted needs to call the police,” Mr Elliott said.
“The supermarkets have invested a lot of money in CCTV and that’s what they need to do ... make sure that they provide the CCTV of anybody that is assaulted [and] give it to the police. But also the security in the supermarkets is obliged to do what every other business is obliged to do and that is comply with the public health orders.”
Mr Elliott urged supermarkets to “spend the extra money” and hire security personnel if they believe their staff members are at risk of being abused by members of the public.
“This is an action that the public health orders have said will allow us to contact anybody that has been in a supermarket when it’s been exposed.”
Qantas cancels WA flights after airport declared exposure site
By Fran Rimrod
At least eight interstate Qantas flights in Western Australia have been cancelled after a FIFO worker returned a positive COVID-19 test.
The case of the worker in his 30s has authorities scratching their heads because he returned a weak positive before testing negative.
The man flew out to FMG’s Cloudbreak mine on July 20.Credit:Glenn Hunt/File photo
The man transited through Perth Airport at the same time as a traveller who arrived in WA after completing hotel quarantine in Queensland before later testing positive for the virus.
But he had also previously been sick with coronavirus in March and April 2020, leading authorities to question whether he might be a “shedder”.
A Qantas spokesperson told 6PR radio in Perth that eight flights have been cancelled as crew await COVID test results due to the airport being declared an exposure site.
Flights to and from Karratha, Newman, Port Hedland, Paraburdoo, Onslow, Kalgoorlie, Broome and Geraldton have been scratched and the airline says affected passengers will be contacted and put on new flights within the next 24 hours.
Anyone who has been at Perth Airport’s Terminal 3 between 4am and 7am on July 20 and between 4.30pm and 6pm on July 27 should get tested and isolate until they return a negative test.
For the full list of exposure sites, visit the WA Department of Health website.
SPC to require onsite staff and visitors to be vaccinated
By David Estcourt
Fruit and vegetable giant SPC will be the first company in Australia to require all onsite personnel – including staff and visitors – to be fully vaccinated by the end of November.
SPC chairman Hussein Rifai says the company made the decision in the wake of the Delta variant.
SPC will soon require all onsite personnel to be fully vaccinated. Credit:Vince Caligirui
“We believe that the only way that we can get out and protect our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we work is to [get] the vaccine,” he told ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning.
Mr Rafai said employees will be given paid vaccination leave to recover if they suffer any side effects from their inoculation.
“A place like Shepparton [in northern Victoria], where our factory is, you can shut the whole thing down very easily, it’s a small town. People interface a fair bit and we’re one of the largest employers there. If we’re not protecting our employees and it spreads through there, then it will impact the whole town.”
Mr Rafai said the company was currently consulting with the union and employees about the policy.
‘Stop mucking around’: Bunnings shouldn’t be open to the public in NSW, Senator says
By Broede Carmody
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has slammed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for allowing Bunnings outlets to remain open to the general public despite Sydney being in lockdown.
“You have to go into [a proper] lockdown,” Ms Lambie told the Today show earlier this morning. “No mucking around with this. You can’t go in half.
Bunnings shouldn’t be open to the public in NSW, according to one Senator. Credit: Jacky Ghossein
“Shut them down. Unless you need a pharmacy, unless you need to eat or go to the supermarket ... leave the tradies part open in Bunnings.
“People can go on about last year and have a go at [Victorian Premier] Daniel Andrews. You want to see the gold plate and see how it’s done? Four or five times they have been in lockdown and got out of it. I’m ropeable ... and I imagine some of those people in NSW should be too. Stop mucking around with it, Gladys.”
During Victoria’s most recent lockdown, Bunnings was only open to tradespeople who needed essential supplies. (However, Bunnings remains open to the public in Queensland, which is dealing with its largest outbreak since the first wave of the virus last year.)
Yesterday, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said authorities weren’t as concerned about large retail settings as they were small, local supermarkets.
Transmission between households remains NSW’s main concern, according to Dr Chant.
Positive cases at schools on NSW Central Coast, Lake Macquarie region
By Sarah McPhee
Three siblings have tested positive for COVID-19 in NSW, closing a primary school on the Central Coast and a high school in the Lake Macquarie region.
Two of the children attended Lake Munmorah Public School, which has closed to on-site learning.
Lake Munmorah Public School. Credit:Nick Moir
“Our school will be non-operational effective immediately for the on-site attendance of staff and visitors to allow time for contact tracing and cleaning,” Principal Narelle Baldwin told parents and carers last night.
“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further advice.”
The Central Coast is considered part of Greater Sydney and for the purposes of the lockdown, students are learning from home unless they need to attend school for reasons such as being children of essential workers.
Parents of students at Morisset High School in the Lake Macquarie region, which is not in lockdown, have also been advised of a positive case in a student.
“Morisset High School is temporarily non-operational,” the school’s website states.
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper on Facebook said all of the high school’s students and staff have been asked to immediately isolate and “somewhat fortunately, Lake Munmorah [primary] school has been closed to almost all students during the Central Coast lockdown over the past few weeks”.
He said advice from the Education Minister was that the three confirmed cases of COVID-19, who are siblings, were on-site and infectious. Contact tracing and cleaning is under way.
NSW Health yesterday said fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 had been detected in sewage systems in areas including Newcastle’s Burwood Beach, Shortland and Belmont.
“None of these have known cases of COVID-19 living in any of the areas they serve,” the department said.
Third Melbourne school closes as city braces for more COVID-19 exposure sites
By David Estcourt
Three Melbourne schools have now shut their doors as Victoria braces for additional exposure sites linked to a teacher who recently tested positive to coronavirus.
A message sent out by Australian International Academy executive principal Gafiah Dickinson and campus head Michelle Shears told parents and guardians that all their campuses would be closed as a precautionary measure after the school participated in a sporting competition with another unnamed school.
Al-Taqwa College released a statement on Wednesday evening after one of its teachers tested positive to COVID-19.Credit:Joe Armao
“We are sorry to inform you that we are temporarily closing ALL AIA Campuses due to the recent COVID-19 CONFIRMED infections announced earlier this evening,” the message said.
“This is a precautionary measure as our students engaged in sporting activities with other schools.”
A teacher at Al-Taqwa College in Melbourne’s west tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday, forcing nearly 2500 students and teachers into isolation. The college is now listed as a tier-1 exposure site.
Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said a Hobsons Bay woman, who is in her 20s, may have been infectious while at the school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week.
The woman also visited a Coles in Yarraville last Thursday. The supermarket has now been declared a tier-2 exposure site, meaning anyone who visited it during the specified timeframe needs to isolate until they test negative for COVID-19.
Yesterday evening, another Islamic school, Ilim College in the northern suburbs, said it would close its three campuses from today as a precautionary measure, with a further announcement to come pending advice from Victoria’s Health Department.
“We must reiterate that Ilim College has not had any positive COVID results from this outbreak,” the school said in a Facebook post.
More on this story here.
Worst not over amid fears virus is spreading beyond Sydney
By Lucy Cormack, Alexandra Smith and Jordan Baker
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has abandoned the promised full-scale return of HSC students to classrooms as case numbers remain stubbornly high and fears mount that the virus had spread beyond metropolitan Sydney.
With 1000 contact tracers now working on stopping the spread of COVID-19 in NSW, authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about the quantity of virus fragments found in waste water around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and southern Port Stephens. There have been no cases recorded recently in those areas.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned COVID-19 numbers could get worse.Credit:James Brickwood
Yesterday, Ms Berejiklian conceded her ambitious plan to get year 12 students back to face-to-face learning would need to take a different form than expected, making a “humble guess” that the worst of the outbreak was yet to hit.
She said it was unlikely there would be a uniform policy for schools across Greater Sydney, given areas like south-west and western Sydney had higher levels of transmission than others.
Read the full story here.
Indigenous leader welcomes $1.1b Closing the Gap funding
By Cameron Gooley
The country’s top Indigenous organisations have applauded the federal government’s $1.1 billion Closing the Gap implementation plan, but warn underfunding of programs and services remains the biggest challenge ahead.
The federal, state, and territory governments reached the historic new National Agreement on Closing the Gap with the Coalition of Peaks last July, aimed at reducing the inequality faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Pat Turner alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison as they announced the national agreement last July.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The federal government will now hand down its first plan outlining how it will achieve progress on its commitments this morning.
“The Prime Minister is beginning to overturn some significant legacy issues, and some chronic underfunding of vital services for our peoples ... not everything will be covered but this is the furthest attempt and I think they’ve done pretty well,” said Arrernte and Gurdanji woman Pat Turner, lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks.
Read the full story here.
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2021-08-04 22:21:28Z
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